Danger Zone
by Divamercury
Summary: 3rd in my series; sequel to Inferno. Can Ian save Sara from a group of bloodthirsty mercenaries hired by Irons? And what happens when the White Bulls show up? Read it and don't forget to review!...COMPLETE!
1. Default Chapter

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Standard disclaimer applies. I'm just a poor high school student! So keep in mind that if you sue me, believe me, you won't get much. On with the story! And don't forget to review, or I might not upload for a while!

Chapter 1

Kenneth Irons, my employer, had gone too far this time, even for him. After finally having been assured that I could not follow his orders and kill Sara Pezzini, the woman for whom I existed to protect, he hired a group of bloodthirsty mercenaries collectively called the Speakers. This must have been used in an ironic fashion, because they were reported to never have spoken, and many of their targets never did again after they were through with them. It was unknown how many of them there were and where they hailed from, similar to the White Bulls who had also been after Sara at one time. The Speakers were to swoop down on Sara's apartment in the dead of night, capture her, and following this I knew no more of the plan except that Sara would most assuredly be dead by daybreak if some intervention was not made. Perhaps Irons would have them kill her, or maybe he would have them deliver her to him and kill her himself, removing the Witchblade from her cold, pulse-devoid wrist. Whatever his devious plan was, I vowed to myself to foil it. Sara was far too important to lose. If there were any possible way in heaven or hell that I could save her, I would do so. 

I left Vorschlag soon after I overheard the phone call to the leader of the Speakers. I only hoped that I had found out soon enough. The black Mercedes that I drove around the city doing Irons's bidding was parked out in the front of the building, and I got inside and drove at almost breakneck speed to Sara's apartment. I was unsure of how much time I had and of how much time it would take to convince Sara that she was in grave dangerliterally. 

Upon arrival, I pulled into the alley beside Sara's building and I parked the car. I climbed the fire escape to reach her window, as I often did. When I reached the window, I tested it to see if it was unlocked and to my good fortune it was. I opened it, slipped inside, and shut it, making my way carefully through the pitch-dark apartment to Sara's bed. She was sound asleep on it, and I hated to wake her, but I knew that if I didn't, she would be sleeping permanently in a place much less comfortable than she was currently in. I slowly reached toward her and found her shoulder, shaking it gently. "Sara? Sara? I need you to wake up."

Sara opened one eye, looked at me, then opened the other and pushed herself up to a sitting position with her hands.

"Good evening, Ian. To what do I owe this interruption of my repose?" she asked half groggily and half angrily.

"We have no time for pleasantries, Sara. You must come with me immediately."

"Wha?" she asked, clearly confused. I slowed down.

"Irons has sent the Speakers after you. They're on the way right now and I don't know how much time we have until they arrive."

Sara stiffened. Clearly I had caught her attention. 

"The Speakers? Spectacular. First the White Bulls, now the Speakers. How did you know about this, Ian?" she asked. 

"Like I said before, Irons sent them after you. He knows that I will refuse to kill you for him, so he hired them to get the job done."

"Why are you telling me this? Why aren't you helping them?" she asked, and then she drew back, as far away from me as she could get. "What if you actually are? What if they sent you here to lure me out in the open and then BANG! Sara all over the pavement?" she asked nervously.

"Sara," I said, exasperated. "I though you knew me better than that. I will never do anything to hurt you in any way."

Sara considered this, verifying it in her mind, and then she nodded. "Do I have time to pack a few things?"

"I would say yes, but do it fast."

That was all Sara needed to hear. She stuffed some clothing and toiletries into a bag, then opened a large armoire in one of the corners of the room, a piece of furniture that I had never seen before. She flung open the doors and, grabbing a separate bag, cleaned it out. My eyes widened. It was full of guns and ammunition of all types: several rifles, a few shotguns, but primarily handguns. She kept a few out of the bag, along with some holsters, and then she grabbed a separate set of clothes. Apparently not caring if I was looking or not (I averted my eyes when I realized what she was about to do) changed into them in the dark and stuffed the pajamas that she had been wearing previously into the clothing bag. She strapped the guns she had left out in various places on her person: the left thigh, the right hip, and under her left arm. As an afterthought she snatched her badge and dropped it into the bag with the guns, then zipped the bags closed, threw on her trusty leather jacket, and turned to me.

"Okay, done," she said. "Let's go." 

The two of us climbed out of the window and onto the fire escape. I went down first, and Sara threw her bags down to me. I put the one with clothing inside in the trunk, put the one with the guns in the front passenger's side floorboard, and watched her hurry down the ladder. She jumped into the passenger's seat, I got into the driver's seat, we slammed the doors in unison, and then we were off.

"I think we made it just in time," Sara remarked as we sped away. "While I was climbing out the window I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall. I just hope they don't trash my apartment. 

That was Sara, always thinking about the least important things at the most perilous of times. I smiled and kept my eyes on the road.


	2. Chapter 2

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Standard disclaimer applies. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 2

"Ian? Where are we going, anyway?" she asked a few minutes later. 

"I have a refuge downtown that Irons knows nothing about," I replied. "We will be safe there."

"Well, works for me. Just tell me one thing, if you would. How did you find out about all of this?"

"I was preparing to retire for the evening when I walked past Irons's office. The door was ajar and I could hear his one-sided conversation with the leader of the Speakers. He was doing all of the talking, instructing them on exactly how to get you out of his way. Naturally he didn't tell me himself; he would realize that I would stop him. All I wonder about now is how long it will take him to figure out that I am helping you escape him."

"Thank you, Ian. You didn't have to do all this just for me," she said quietly. 

We reached a red light. I rounded on her, angry that she didn't realize her worth.

"What do you mean?" Do you really think that I would stand by and do nothing? That I would rather see you killed than take a risk? Sara, my life is to protect you and the Witchblade, and that is what I intend to do." Even if it kills me,' I thought.

She looked at me, surprised.

"Well, when you put it that way" she trailed off. "That wasn't what I was thinking, anyway. What I meant was that you didn't have to go to all this trouble. Hell, you could have told me about the plot, vanished as is you way much of the time, and then left me on my own. I would have been fine."

"I could have, but I didn't. Besides, there was no guarantee that you could have gotten away without help. I wanted to make absolutely sure that you were somewhere where no one would ever dream of looking. And this is it," I said, pulling into an alley beside a warehouse in Sara's least favorite part of town. She grimaced when she realized she was in the warehouse district.

"Welcome to my sanctuary," I said a bit over-dramatically.

"Right. Well, come on, then, we don't have all day," she said, and grinning, I led her up to the front door. I unlocked said door and we entered the room. I flipped the light switch beside the door and I heard Sara inhale sharply.

"Wow," she said. "This is beautiful, Ian." 

I was rather proud of the way I had decorated, but had never had the opportunity to share it with anyone. The floor was tiled with white marble and the walls were adorned with paintings and tapestries I had found by chance. I watched Sara as she explored the refuge, making a beeline for the large display of swords of various lengths and widths that I had collected over the years that was displayed on the wall opposite from the door. 

"These are incredible. This one is especially impressive," she said, gesturing to the katana in the center of the arrangement. I gave her some background information on it and the other swords, and she seemed very impressed by them. Sara would, of course, appreciate weapons. 

We moved on to the bookshelves that lined the wall of the library, the first room on the right. Sara scanned titles, announcing some that captured her attention and commenting on some of the authors she noticed that she wasn't particularly fond of. I was surprised when she withdrew a volume of poetry and started scanning it. It was my favorite book in the library. She must have been drawn to it as I had been.

"These are wonderful," she said. "The author has true talent in imagery. I can practically see the scenes unfolding in front of me."

"That is a very rare book that you hold, Sara. There were very few of those printed to begin with, and unfortunately nearly all of the other copies were destroyed in various disasters, such as the Nazi book burnings. You hold one of the only two remaining copies in the world."

She stared back down at the book, tracing the gilt lettering with a finger. Apparently she wanted to read through a few more of the selections, but she gently replaced it on the shelf with a heartbreaking look. "I don't want to damage it," she said sadly. We left the library and were about to continue the tour when my cell phone rang abruptly. Sara looked at me terror-stricken, which was alarming in the fact that it was so unlike her. I tried to give her a reassuring look and answered the phone.

"Ian?" It was Irons. 

"Yes."

"I was passing your room when I noticed that you weren't in it. Where are you? What are you doing?"

"I was about to retire for the evening when I realized that there was an important errand I had neglected earlier and I had to go and complete it. I am currently on my way to begin my surveillance on Sara."

"Oh, Ian, that's all right, you don't have to do that tonight," Irons said too quickly. 

"No, I will do my duty. Ah, here is Sara now, entering her apartment. She must have had a late night tonight at the station. I will continue my watch, and I apologize for my lack of concentration in performing my tasks. Goodbye," I said, hanging up my cell.

"What was that about?" Sara asked somewhat nervously.

"Irons is now worrying about his arrangements for your disposal. He believes that you are alive and well at your apartment, because at this time he has no reason to doubt me. I suppose that his operatives will have to speak to defend themselves in this specific case," I said with a slight smile. Sara was relived. 

"So will that keep him out of our hair for a while?"

"I suppose it will for a while. But it may be a bit more difficult to deal with Irons when he finds out that I've been lying to him," I said. She nodded. 

"Will he expect you home any time soon?" 

"I doubt it. I often stay out late watching over you, Sara. Now, we need to get you settled in."


	3. Chapter 3

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hey guys, sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I just came up with the idea for Chapter 3 (last night), so that should tell you how drained of inspiration I have been lately. Anyway, none of these characters belong to me except the Speakers, (although exactly why I want them I don't know), so no one sue me and enjoy Chapter 3! I even made it longer than I usually do to apologize for the delay. :)

Chapter 3

I picked up Sara's bag of clothing and started walking down one of the many labyrinthine corridors of my secret residence. Over my shoulder I said, "I'll take you to your room." Sara followed me out of the foyer and through the halls.

We arrived at a room that I had actually designed with Sara in mind. It was ready for her, and had been for some time, waiting for something like this to happen: for Sara to have a need for a place to hide. The walls were painted a pale blue and the bed, centered on one wall of the room, was a cast iron queen sized canopy, ready with white sheets. There were pieces of exquisitely carved mahogany furniture placed sporadically around the room, and during her first exploration Sara discovered the slightly hidden door to the adjoining bathroom with delight.

"Just what I was thinking about. I really need a shower," she said.

"Everything you need should be in there. If not, I will be next door in my room," I said, preparing to leave. 

"Ian?" Sara's voice stopped me. I whirled around. 

"I just wanted to thank youfor saving my lifeagain. And for everything you've done to make me feel at home. I really appreciate it."

"Anything for you, Sara," I said with a small smile, and then left before Sara could say anything else. 

***

Ian left me abruptly. I turned toward the bathroom and entered it, shedding my clothing as I went. I turned up the water and waited until it was my preferred temperature—something that would most likely scald other people—and when it reached said temperature, I stepped into the spray. The almost boiling water made my slightly sore muscles rejoice with the contact, and I leaned my head back toward the shower head, the strange thoughts from that evening running through my head and bouncing off the sides of my skull. Why was Irons so intent on killing me because of the Witchblade? Why couldn't he just get a life? He was so frustrating, and now I was hiding like a coward. Which was what I felt like. Sighing, I commenced with my shower.

***

When I heard the water start running, I knew that Sara would be occupied for a while. I went to my bedroom and removed my trench coat. Making sure my hair was tied back securely, I went to the night table, withdrew a pad and piece of paper, and wrote a short note to Sara in case she came looking for me:

I'm in the exercise room, on the other side of your bedroom.

-Ian

Not exactly the most romantic note in the world, but oh well. I entered the aforementioned room and began my workout.

My exercise room was a large room with mirrors on the walls and lots of various pieces of workout equipment strewn about. The only break in the mirrors was a small window about eight feet from the floor, which was an access to the street. Part of my sanctuary was above ground, but this room and the bedrooms were underground for safety reasons. I took off my sweater and undershirt and picked up one of my practice swords. I then decided on a routine. It felt better doing it with a katana, but I wasn't going all the way to the foyer to get it. A wave of laziness had washed over me and I decided to stay close. Or maybe it wasn't laziness. Maybe I just wanted to be close to Sara while she was in trouble. Pushing all these thoughts from my mind for the time being, vowing to come back to them later, I poured all my concentration into my routine. 

***

When I finished my shower, dried my hair and dressed, I left my new room and went looking for Ian. Where did he say he was going?' I thought, wracking my brain to find the answer. Oh, right, his room.' I entered, but he wasn't there.

Spectacular. Now I'm going to get lost in this huge place looking for him,' I thought a bit angrily. I walked over to his bed, noticing a small scrap of paper on which Ian had inscribed a note in his vertical, precise handwriting.

"Exercise room? I like the sound of that," I said to myself, a smile slowly creeping across my features. "And at least he included directions." 

I left Ian's room and skipped the door to my room, coming to one that was ajar. I peered in, then opened the door a little more. Surely Ian heard me. Well, I could never be sure of anything with him, but if he had heard me he made no indication of having done so. I stopped short as I passed through the doorway of the room.

Ian wasn't wearing a shirt. I had never seen him when he wasn't covered with layers upon layers of black clothing. He was doing a routine with an Oriental sword, and I watched him in the reflection of the mirror. I doubted if there was an ounce of fat on him anywhere. The muscles of his chest and abdomen were well defined, obviously from extensive use, and several scars were visible in various places. The muscles of his back were also defined from use and were being used at extremes as he deftly maneuvered the sword. I couldn't stop staring at him, forcing some strange thoughts that had slipped into my head out so I wouldn't go crazy. I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms and legs as I did so, watching him. I didn't want to interrupt, but sooner or later he would notice me. Or at least, I hoped so. I didn't want to stand there all night. 

After a few more minutes and no noticeable sign of recognition from Ian, I decided to make use of the plentiful equipment. I had dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and a white tank top, and I went over to the rack of barbells of various sizes that lined a wall. Leaving Ian to his routine, I started one of my own.

***

Unexpectedly a break came in my concentration. I glanced backwards with the help of the mirrors around me and I was surprised to see that Sara was in the room. She was lifting weights and for a moment I watched her, fascinated. Her cropped shirt showed every strain of her arms and abdomen. Embarrassed at myself, I tried to go back to my routine but my concentration was shattered. I put the sword away and Sara's head snapped toward me, realizing that I was actually changing my position. She put down her barbell and turned to face me.

"I'm impressed, Ian. This is a great place and I appreciate your hospitality."

"It's nothing, Sara. I just hope that it will be secure enough for you. The Speakers, once hired, will stop at nothing to find you, especially if Irons has promised them enough. As long as they are ignorant of this location, we should be fine. Everything that you should need is here, so it may be safer if you stay out of sight for a few days."

"I'll need to call in to work, tell Jake to cover for me."

"We can do that. I'll get you a phone with a scrambler so you can't be traced; they could be listening out for you as well as watching for you."

"Oh, yeah. I hadn't thought of that. Are you done?" she asked me, meaning in the exercise room.

"Almost. Then I will leave you in peace," I said.

"I didn't mean you had to leave. I just wanted to know if youweren't too busy to talk." She turned back to her weights. Suddenly I saw a small red spot race around the room and rest on Sara's temple. A laser sight! 

"Sara, get down!" I shouted. She turned her head and looked at me strangely, the sight landing on the back of her head. In a second I was across the room and I pushed her down behind some equipment, falling to the ground with her and shielding her just as machine-gun fire roared in the room. Originally she had I was crazy but now she understood. The first round of gunfire was short, but the second was longer. It took out all of the mirrors, showering us with tiny fragments of silver glass. 

"Lights out!" I yelled, and the fluorescent bulbs instantly died. She looked at me inquisitively.

"Voice command," I whispered. They continued to fire on us, showering us with plaster as well as glass. After about fifteen more minutes of rapid gunfire, they stopped. We lay low for some time, trying to make sure that they weren't still there, and then I stood up.

"The Speakers?" Sara asked in a whisper from the floor.

"Most likely. They must have looked in the window up there and seen us. Damn!"

"But will they be able to find their way in?"

"I doubt it. I was careless. They were lucky to have found us, but they will probably think that we are dead after all that. Irons doesn't know about this place and therefore they will not know the entrance. I only hope Irons doesn't find out because of them."

"I'm sorry about all this, Ian. First the room gets destroyed, and next your secret place might not be secret anymoreall because of me."

"Lights on." I threw a Look at her as I helped her up. "Stop blaming yourself for everything. It's not like you."

"I'mI'm just scared. Scared out of my mind."

"That's not like you either."

"I know. And that scares me, too."


	4. Chapter 4

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry that it's taken so long, but I was so focused on finishing Inferno that everything else came second. So, here's the next part of Danger Zone, extra long (or at least longer than usual) to apologize! Enjoy and REVIEW!

Chapter 4

In spite of Ian's protests, I helped him clean up the mess in the exercise room. I busied myself in sweeping up the tiny slivers and shards of the mirrors that had previously been on the walls. I also swept up pieces of plaster and drywall, which had come dislodged from the walls that were riddled with high caliber bullet holes. But other than the wall damage, the rest of the room was still in good shape. Ian had an excellent poker face and didn't show any emotion, but I knew that inside he was angry and upset that his sanctuary had been slightly compromised. And I knew he was furious with himself because I had almost been injured. 

"So, what do we do now?" I asked. "Are we running?"

***

"No," I replied. "I believe that this is the safest place for us at the time. Irons will either think that we are dead or that we have run off somewhere, so staying put will probably be the best idea. Actually, he will know that you are still alive because of his link with the Witchblade. But he can't track you and pinpoint where you are." Like I can.'

"So we just stick around? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Unless something proves me to be incorrect, then yes, I think it's a good plan. And, I want you to start carrying a weapon everywhere. I know you're used to doing that, but doing so here is no exception."

"But why bother when I have this thing?" she asked, holding up the arm with the Witchblade. "Don't get paranoid on me, Ian. I'm paranoid enough for the both of us." The discussion over from her point of view, she returned to her sweeping, and I went back to setting some of the equipment back up that had been knocked over in the scuffle. 

I tried to keep my anger in check. Sara was an incredibly stubborn woman when she put her mind to it. She was bound and determined not to do a simple thing to keep herself safe. I would have to show her that self-defense was now even more important than it ever had been.

***

Ian was silent as we started repairing the exercise room. I could tell he was mad at me because I refused to carry a gun around in my own new sanctuary. It made no sense to me to do so. Oh, well. I'll let him pout if that's what he wants to do,' I thought as I swept some fragments of glass out of a corner of the room and into a dustpan. 

It took me about another hour to finish sweeping up all the shards of the mirror in the room. Since both Ian and I tended to go around without shoes, I decided that it would be best if I was especially thorough. I didn't want to get a nasty surprise stuck in the bottom of my foot, and I was sure Ian didn't either.

When I had finally finished, I looked back at the large punching bag that miraculously (like most of the other equipment) had escaped harm from the rounds of gunfire. I hazarded a glance over my shoulder at Ian. He was still busy setting up the knocked-over equipment, so I turned my attention away from him and back to the punching bag.

Big mistake.

Before I could even throw a punch at the bag, I was pushed to the floor. Ian was the perpetrator, to my surprise. He straddled me, pinning both of my wrists to the floor with one hand and holding a gun to my forehead with the other. The Witchblade, too late, appeared over my right hand and forearm with the subtle swishing of metal that I had grown accustomed to.

"Ian! Are you crazy? What are you doing? Get off of me!" I shouted, struggling. He made no reply, just pressed the muzzle of the gun to my head a little more firmly.

***

The Witchblade appeared in what would have been too late to save its Wielder had she been in any real danger. The metal scraped across my palm as it appeared on her arm but did no damage to my flesh. My eyes locked with Sara's, mine daring her to fight me and hers smoldering with a mixture of anger, confusion, and something I couldn't identify precisely, most likely shock or terror. It pained me to do this to her, but I had to show her that no matter what she thought, to a trained warrior she was an easy target. She wasn't ten feet tall and bulletproof like she liked to think she was.

"What are you doing?" she repeated. "Were you that curious to see what it would feel like?" Her innuendo was weakened by her lack of confidence. 

I removed the gun from her forehead and slipped it into my pants pocket for the time being. She relaxed almost imperceptibly, but enough that I noticed. 

"I was merely illustrating how easily you could be taken down by someone with enough experience without the assistance of the Blade. I thought you trusted me. I swore I would never hurt you and I don't intend to go back on my word." I got up off of her and offered her my hand. She looked at it dubiously, her eyes belying her stoic expression and revealing her misgivings. Her eyes flickered up to my face, and I caught her gaze, trying to reassure her. She looked back at my hand and then grasped it firmly. I pulled her to her feet. 

"I apologize for taking you by surprise," I said. I removed the gun from my pants pocket and pressed the handle into her hand. She wouldn't take it, but I urged her.

"Tonight's events have made it clear that you aren't completely safe anywhere. Please, Sara, for both our sakes, keep this with you."

***

He had me in a corner. The sad-puppy look was on his face again, and I couldn't resist that. It was his most powerful weapon with me; no gun or sword could rival it. 

"All right," I said, surrendering and taking the offered gun. "I need to get out some frustration." I went back to the bag and threw rapid-fire punches, sending the bag swinging around everywhere. I was full of energy, but all of it was negative. Damn the Speakers. Damn Dante and his little club. Damn Irons for bringing both of them into the picture. Alternating on the bag I saw Irons's and Dante's faces and I relished hitting them. I only wished that I was really hitting them instead of just a bag. 

Ian snapped me out of my daze. He grabbed the bag to still it and stopped me."Sara, calm down. You're hurting yourself." 

I had been hitting the bag barehanded, and my knuckles were bleeding, the skin dry from the winter splitting especially easily. The bag was stained with my blood. The furor with which I was pummeling the bag and the anger at the imaginary faces and the fact that my life would be really screwed up for a while had made me ignore the pain, converting it into a dull numbness that was only barely there. But now that I had stopped bashing the bag, the feeling had come rushing back to my hands. I bit my lip to try to push back the stinging pain but failed.

***

"You must have had a lot of rage to get rid of, am I right?" I asked gently. She nodded, looking away. The thought of taking her in my arms crossed my mind but I thought better of it. Now wasn't the time, even thought she looked like she could use a little sympathy. 

"It's late. We need to get some rest if we want to keep our strength up. And we need to, what with the Speakers after you."

She nodded again without saying a word. It was apparent that she was exhausted. Without any protest from her I led her out of the exercise room through her room and into her bathroom. She didn't even cry out while I cleaned up her hands. She snapped out of her reverie, finished fighting her demons, when we left the bathroom. She looked down at her hands and said, "Thanks, Ian."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I'm just wiped."

"Then I will take my leave. Goodnight, Sara." I turned around and started toward the door.

"Goodnight," I heard as I stepped through the doorway. I went back.

"Remember I'm right next door if you need anything," I reminded her. She nodded and gave me a smile, faint with weariness but still genuine. I returned the smile and left her to her dreams, which would hopefully be peaceful. I just hoped that our adventures were over for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hello all! Enjoy Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

After Ian left, I went straight to bed. I don't think I remember ever being more tired or fatigued in my life. The bed was extremely comfortable and I snuggled back into the pillows, preparing for a (hopefully) dream-free sleep. I glanced briefly down at my counterpart, silently asking it to leave me alone for the next few nights. My response was in the form of several colorful swirls that drifted across the depths of the Witchblade's red stone. I sighed and rolled across the bed, turning off the light, and as soon as my head touched the pillow that second time, I was asleep.

A few hours later, when the sun's light was barely threatening to illuminate the sky, I woke up with a start. I had heard something that broke the silence in the house. Unsure of what it was, I remained motionless in my bed until I heard it again. Then I snatched my gun out from under my pillow, jammed it into the pocket of my pants, and crept out of my room. 

I had a feeling that it wasn't an intruder, since Ian, being as paranoid as he was, was a huge fan of security and the house had been equipped with a state-of-the-art system. I slowly made my way down the hall and passed Ian's door. It was ajar. Wondering if he had left to check out the situation, I peered in. As I did so, the sound repeated its appearance but sounded closer than ever. Then I figured it out. 

It was Ian. He lay in his bed, a pained expression on his face, and the sound had been him thrashing around the whole time. Every once in a while he would cry out, and his skin shone with sweat from the exertion and, most likely, fear. I approached him quietly hoping that he would wake up. He did, in a fashion much like mine after a Witchblade dream. His eyes were wide and his breathing was heavy and panicky. I came closer still; he hadn't seen me.

"Ian?" I asked softly. He jumped, startled. "Sorry. I wasn't sure if you had seen me or not." I walked over to his bed and sat down on it beside him. "Are you all right?"

He tried to speak but nothing came out. This unnerved me. Ian, the typical tough-guy, was terrified. His bad ass assassin façade had been shorn away to reveal the man inside. I tried to reassure him that everything was fine, taking his hand and meeting his gaze. Pieces of his dream came to me via the Witchblade through our physical contact, but there was nothing that I hadn't seen before. The typical sequence of rapid flashes of gruesome sights, repeated over and over and over again, played before my eyes. 

"Are you all right?" I asked again. He seemed to consider it but shook his head. Impulsively he threw his arms around me and pulled me close. I held him in response to this, still mildly surprised. He started talking, his voice slightly muffled by my shoulder. 

***

"It was awful," I said, mumbling into Sara's shoulder. Her grip on me tightened and she asked, "What was awful?" in the most soothing tone I had ever heard her use.

"I am being punished for what I told you this evening, all the information about my Guardianship."

"Is it the Witchblade?" she asked. I nodded slightly. "What is it doing?"

"It has decided that my greatest punishment is to be shown all the things I don't want to see: all the lifetimes that I have failed you. I've had to relive watching Joan burn, watching Cleopatra as the venom spread through her veins—" My voice broke. Even the mere thought of it, without even seeing it, brought back the feelings of helplessness and sorrow. I closed my eyes tightly. 

I had chosen not to tell Sara one thing: in my dreams, many times, I had seen her death, and I could barely stand it. She was the only thing keeping me going, the only thing in this life worth living for, and if I lost her, I would lose myself. 

We sat like intertwined statues on my bed, and when I came back to my senses, I could barely believe that I was in the position I was in. I couldn't believe that Sara had continued the embrace and hadn't pulled away. 

***

Ian pulled back a little from me and met my gaze. He looked miserable; the look in those hauntingly dark, expressive eyes nearly broke my heart. I opened my mouth to speak when the sharp, shrill ring of a cell phone shattered the silence. We looked at each other for a moment and then started searching pockets until we located the offensive object. It turned out to be my phone.

"Don't take too long, Sara. The Speakers could be tracing you."

I nodded, then answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, Pez. This is Mac. I hope you don't mind me calling you so early. It's pretty important, and Gabe gave me your cell number."

"Oh, hi Mac. So, what's so important?"

"I have some things I need to tell you. Could you meet me for lunch today?"

"Ummhang on a sec, Mac," I said, covering the mouthpiece with my hand. "It's Mac, she wants to meet me for lunch. Do you think it's safe?"

"I'm not sure. If it's today then it ought to be safe. The Speakers might still think that our ruse has worked. Hurry, get back to Mac, say it's okay and then hang up."

"Okay. Hey, Mac, it's cool. I just thought I might have had a conflict but I don't. So, how's 11:00?"

"Great. Meet you at Mandrill's?"

"Took the words out of my mouth. Gotta go."

"Okay, bye Pez." We hung up.

"Well, that was interesting," I remarked to Ian. "I'm in hiding and I'm going to lunch with my friend just like everything was fine."

Ian was about to speak but was cut off by another ear-splitting, obnoxious chime of a cell phone. I glanced down at mine, but it wasn't the culprit this time. He searched his pockets with no success, then lunged for his nightstand and answered on the third ring. We both knew who it was.

***

"Hello?"

"Ian, where are you? You disobeyed my direct orders. I told you not to watch Sara tonight! Get back here now!" 

"But, sir—"

"Don't but, sir' me! Remember where your loyalties lie and obey me!" Irons hung up. He was in one of his moods again. 

"I have to go," I said to Sara. 

"Irons tightening the leash?"

I nodded, frowning. The last thing I wanted was to return to the man who was trying to kill the woman I loved and existed to protect, but it would enable me to keep her safe. 

"Well, we both need to get out of the house before this goes any further out of proportion. Besides, I'll brief Mac on what's going on."

I gave her a Look.

"Well, within reason, anyway," she amended. "I won't tell her everything that's going on if I decide she can't handle it." 

I accepted that. It was the best I would get from Sara. I could always escape from Vorschlag after Irons had dismissed me and could follow Sara to Mandrill's. 

"You need to dress inconspicuously. We don't know how much the Speakers know about you." She nodded and headed off to her room to change, leaving me to brood over what to do next.


	6. Chapter 6

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry about the delay, but I got stuck for a while. But the ideas are flowing again so I should be updating a little more often. Anyway, enjoy Chapter 6 and please review!

Chapter 6

I went back to my room and rummaged through the bag of clothes I had thrown together in my rush to leave my home. I pulled out some dark sweats, my jacket, and sunglasses and got dressed. I threw my hair up into a ponytail, put a dark cap over my head, and put on my sneakers. There. I was fully prepared to blend. I poked my head into Ian's room and told him I was going. He was ready to go and he dropped me off near my building so I could get my bike. We separated and I rode around town, doing some small errands that I'd have to complete before I dropped out of sight. By the time I was finished it was 10:45 and I had just enough time to cross town and make it to Mandrill's to meet Mac.

"Hey, Pez!" she said as I entered. Luckily she didn't say it too loudly or else my all-too-fragile cover would have been broken. I made my way through the lunch crowd and sat with her at her small table.

"So, what's going on? What was so important that you had to drag me down here?" I teased.

"We need to talk about some things. I'm going to drop a bombshell, so I just wanted to warn you in advance. This is some important info."

"Well, what is it?" I asked, dying to know.

"I know about who you are, and I know that that is the Witchblade."

"What?!" I jumped back in my seat in shock. She certainly wasn't the type to beat around the bush.

"You heard what I said. You are the Wielder, Pez, and have always been. Ian Nottingham is your Guardian, and I am the High Priestess of the Blade. I wear the companion necklace, as I'm sure you have noticed; there are two other pieces, male rings. One is worn by Lazar, whom I think you know about—" 

"We've met," I interrupted.

"—And the other is supposed to be for the Guardian, but I have reason to believe that Irons might have that somewhere in his collection."

"So, what's your place in the Witchblade universe? Your part in this melodrama?" I asked, still trying to digest all of this.

"Well, I do a lot of things, Pez. The High Priestess is usually a close friend of the Wielder, and I have some pretty strong psychic powers and a tendency to get accurate premonitions and visions. It's part of being around the Witchblade, as you well know. The necklace provides a substantial link between me and you, and it aids what was already natural clairvoyance for me."

I nodded. "So, anyway, while we're dropping bombshells, it's my turn. I'm in big trouble. Irons has sent the Speakers after me todispatch me, to put it kindly, and bring the Witchblade back to him."

Mac gasped. "Oh, no!" It was clear she knew the name, just like everyone who lived in NYC. 

"I'm fine for the time being, though. Ian's taking care of me. I just wanted to let you know about that just in case I don't show up anywhere for a while; this might be my last public appearance."

"I understand. The Speakers have been referred to as bloodthirsty, ruthless mercenaries that will stop at nothing to eliminate their targetsand to get their promised cash. If you need help with anything or a place to stay, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Mac, I can't do that. I can't put you in that much danger."

"Listen to me, Pez. I've moved here for good so that I can be around if you need help. I understand that the Witchblade is a magnet for trouble and danger, but I'm part of it in a way and I'll always be involved. You and Ian and I are all connected to each other by this thing, and I'll be damned if I'll leave you out in the cold when I can help you." 

Mac's vehemence startled me. "No, that's not what I was talking about. I just don't want Irons to come after you, too. I've got enough problems and I don't want to have to worry about you."

"I'll be fine, Pez. Just remember that my door's always open for you."

"Sure. I'll keep that in mind."

***

I arrived back at Vorschlag full of conflicting emotions and thoughts. I knew Irons was responsible for everything that was making Sara's—and my—life a living hell. But I had to keep a semblance of ignorance and indifference if I was to be able to proceed with my plan. I pushed my way into Vorschlag and right as I was about to enter Irons's office, his voice stopped me. He was speaking indignantly to someone on the other end of the telephone.

"Bruno, I understand that you haven't been allowed to get rid of Detective Pezzini previously but my orders have now been changed. The leader of the Speakers will contact you sometime in the very near future. Yes, the Speakers. They are currently under my employ and both of you, Speakers and White Bulls, are going to collaborate on this project. My time of beating around the bush is over. There are two options that are open for you to choose from: you must either eliminate Sara Pezzini personally or she must be captured, subdued, and brought to me. I will either have her head or yours, Bruno, although I'd much prefer hers. Yes, I'm sure you would, too. This has been a very pleasant chat. Good afternoon."

Obviously Irons had been conversing with Bruno Dante. Not a good thing for Sara by any means. I lingered outside of Irons's office, wondering why he hadn't sensed my presence as of yet. I thought back to the events of the evening. Sara had accepted me as her Guardian, and apparently the Witchblade had been pleasedthat was it! Irons was getting anxious because his link with the Witchblade was broken! No wonder he had suddenly decided to try and reclaim it. He no longer had a connection with the Blade because Sara had now completed The Trio: Wielder, Witchblade, and Guardian. And Irons wasn't part of the loop any longer. 

Tentatively I stepped into the office and resumed my parade rest position, head bowed, feet apart, hands behind my back.

"Ah, there you are, Ian. Finally. I was wondering what was taking you so long." He got up from his chair and approached me. Grabbing a handful of my hair he forced me to make contact with those soulless, ice blue eyes. "I was also beginning to wonder why your loyalty seems to have shifted. You know not your Master."

"I have no Master, but a Mistress. You own me no longer. I belong to Sara," I said defiantly.

"She has chosen you?" he asked incredulously. 

So he didn't know the extent of the events that had transpired over the last day. 

"Can you really believe that she will keep you? That she won't tire of you? How could the Wielder be satisfied with a mere servant?" he inquired, trying to wound me and failing. He only succeeded in convincing me that what had just occurred to me, although not for the first time in my life, was most assuredly the correct thing to do.

"I know Sara, and I know the Witchblade. They have both made their decisions," I snarled, my gaze boring into his. He released his hold on my hair and desperately tried to strike me with the cane that had quite often been designated for this purpose. I caught it effortlessly in a steely fist. "If you're seriously trying to hurt me then you had best try a slightly more substantial attack," I taunted, yet still astonished at my daring. I had never felt this free, and I knew my new demeanor both infuriated and frightened Irons. I advanced on him, relishing the expression on his face as he retreated. Today was going to be an excellent day, and I was going to gain my independence.


	7. Chapter 7

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Chapter 7

Mac and I finished our lunches and we were about to part ways. I had already stood up to leave when she stopped me. 

"Wait, there's one more thing I have to tell you. Sit back down."

I complied, just slightly perplexed, and met Mac's steely blue gaze.

"If you're ever in need of help, and I mean serious manpower, there's some people who will be on your side no matter what. They're called the Associates, and they are descended from people closely involved with the Witchblade. Some of them hide underground away from persecution; many of them have special talents like clairvoyance and such that alienate them from the rest of the populous. Others are normal but have great knowledge and are out there waiting for your call. Either way, this is the address of a warehouse in which they are known to meet very frequently. You will be sure to find someone there should you be in need," she said, scribbling the address on the back of a business card. "The man on the front is a high-ranking member of the Associates. If you find no one at the warehouse, then track him down." She handed me the card.

"William Jerald, Attorney-at-Law. This guy's a lawyer?" I asked incredulously. She nodded.

"But not one like you're picturing; he's actually a decent fellow. Now, I'll let you go. You need to drop out of sight, Pez, and the sooner the better."

"Thanks for everything, Mac. Just one question."

"Shoot."

"How do you know about these people?"

"I'm one of them. Having the Witchblade in your ancestry kinda makes it mandatory; the Wielder almost always is in need of help at least once in her lifetime. Take care of yourself, Pez, and say hi to Ian for me."

"I will, and thanks again." I left Mandrill's, got on my bike, and sped away. 

***

Irons backed up toward the wall, weaponless and practically screaming to be thrashed. I held his cane in my hand, and images of beating him senseless danced through my mind, the result of years of repressed feelings of that sort. But I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't compromise my honor by doing something that Irons would do himself if the situation was reversed.

"Go ahead, Ian," he said, derisive to the last. "I would."

"I realize that you would, but I won't. I thought about it, but I won't sink to your level, Irons," I said. I turned and threw the cane into the fire. "You hold no claim to me anymore. I won't be returning." 

As I left I heard Irons shout after me, "Don't think you can come back when Sara rejects you, Ian! I'm finished with you! You're flying solo now without a parachute!" 

I ignored him as I left Vorschlag for the last time. I stopped outside the building and got out my cell phone. I had to call Sara and tell her about the events of the morning. I was excited to share the news with her. I dialed her cell number and waited for her to answer.

***

I was sitting at a stoplight waiting for the light to change when I heard the ringing of my cell phone cut through the sounds of the motors of the cars around me. 

Spectacular,' I thought. Hope they stay on the line long enough for me to pull over.' 

I maneuvered through the traffic to get over to the right side, counting the rings as I went and was up to about ten when I finally ripped off my helmet and answered.

"Pezzini," I said breathlessly.

"Pez? What took you so long to answer?" It was Jake. 

"Sorry, Jake, you caught me on the road. I was at a red light and had to pull over to answer. What's up?"

"What's up? Maybe the fact that you haven't bothered to grace us with your presence down here today! Dante's going ballistic! Where are you?"

"Um, Jake, I can't say," I said, struggling to find a way to explain my mess. I wasn't completely sure that I could trust Jake. Hell, I hadn't completely trusted anyone in the department before this happened (except Danny and Joe, and both were gone now), and I wasn't about to start. The only people I trusted implicitly were Ian, Mac, and Gabe. 

"Why the hell not? Pez, you're technically AWOL. I can't cover you with Dante breathing down my neck."

"Jake, all I can tell you is that I'm in trouble. I won't be in for a while, and I don't know for sure where I'll be. I'm going to have to disappear for a while. Don't call me again. If I need to talk to you, I'll call you. Bye, Jake." I hung up despite his protests. Two seconds later the phone rang again.

"Goddamn it, Jake, I told you not to call me again!" I said indignantly into the phone.

"Sara? What are you talking about?"

"Ian? Damn. Sorry about that. Obviously I was just talking to Jake."

"McCartey called you? Did you tell him what was going on?" he asked sternly.

"No, I didn't, as a matter of fact. I just said that I was in some trouble and that I'd have to stay out of sight for a while. I told him not to call me anymore and that's why I was pissed when I answered the phone. Anyway, so what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I have some good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

"Hmmjust get the bad over with and then I'll be doubly happy with the good. Lay it on me, Ian."

He sighed, then continued. "Sara, we're in a lot more trouble than I originally anticipated."

"Okay, you know you can't stop there. Finish your thought. Why are we even more screwed than you thought?"

"The Speakers are no longer alone in their operation. Irons has recruited another group to hunt you down and they will be working simultaneously to try to find you."

"Well, wonderful. You weren't kidding when you said this was bad news. So who's the other group of stooges in Irons's back pocket?"

He was silent.

"Ian? Have I lost you? Come on, who are we dealing with?"

"The White Bulls, Sara. The Speakers and White Bulls are working together to bring you down."


	8. Chapter 8

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry about the delay, but I had major writer's block. However, it's over now and I should be updating more regularly so keep your eyes peeled. And please, please, PLEASE review!

Chapter 8

No words fell from Sara's lips. She was speechless. I couldn't exactly blame her, either. I had dropped a bombshell, one that she couldn't possibly have been prepared for.

"Well, I guess that rules out going back to work forever," she said when she found her voice.

"Not quite that long, Sara," I said with a slight laugh. "So, do you want to hear the good news?"

"That would be great," she said quietly. "Anything to change the subject."

"I don't have to report back to Irons any longer," I said with a grin. 

"Why, you two have a tiff?" she teased.

"Yes," I said.

I could practically see her expression, incredulous with a raised eyebrow. "You're serious?" she asked.

"I am."

"So you're not going back there?"

"No. I have no reason to. I don't belong to him anymore."

"You don't belong to anyone anymore."

"I belong to you," I said.

"No. You don't, Ian. You're your own man, and I consider you my partner."

"Partner?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, two people working together towards a common goal. You get the point?"

"I think I follow you, Sara. So, what's next?" I inquired.

"I haven't decided. We should meet back up somewhere. Maybe I could get Mac to come along, so we could talk strategy? Plus, I want to hear all about how you got out from under Irons's thumb and everything."

"That might be a good idea," I said, smiling at her interest. "But where?"

"Umm..." Sara said, searching. "Maybe Gabe's place. I don't think the Speakers would know about our connection, and I'm not sure that the White Bulls would look there first."

"But they do know about him," I pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but we don't have that many options. Listen, I'll call him really quick and see if he's okay with it. Okay?"

"As you wish it. Call me back."

***

"Gotcha." We hung up, and I hit Gabe's number on speed dial.

"Talismaniac."

"Hey, Gabe."

"Chief! Hey, what's going on? What do you want me to research?"

I grimaced. "Am I that predictable?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, for once that's not what I'm after. Listen, and hear me out because I've got to talk fast. I'm in some pretty big trouble. Irons has sent the White Bulls and the Speakers after me all at once and I'm going to have to basically go into hiding for a while. I kinda need some help. I was hoping that Ian, Mac, you, and I could meet over at your place and talk about what to do. You three are the only people I can trust. So, is it cool?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. I'll call Mac and tell her to come over here. How's 12:30?"

I glanced at my watch. It was 11:45. "Perfect. See you then."

"Bye, Chief."

I stuck my helmet on my head and my cell in my pocket and pulled off the shoulder. I couldn't just sit on the side of the highway calling people all day. I sped through the streets toward Gabe's building and when I reached it, parked and immediately called Ian.

"Sara?" he asked, picking up on the first ring. 

"Yep. SoGabe says it's fine to meet at his place. I'm right outside his building. I'll probably just hang around with him until you and Mac show."

"All right, Sara. I will be there shortly. I'm eager to hear what she has to say."

"Great. See you in a few minutes."

"Goodbye, Sara."

I hung up and glanced up at Gabe's building before heading inside. I climbed the stairs two at a time until I reached the green door emblazoned with Talismaniac.com on a black sign. I knocked three times and waited for several minutes. No one came to the door, so I turned the knob. Gabe always kept his door unlocked; I just knocked out of courtesy. I strode in through the shelves holding the unusual merchandise that Gabe sold, ignoring the display of shrunken heads that always succeeded in creeping me out. 

"Hey, Gabe! It's Pez; know you're here. Where the hell are you?" I looked between the rows of shelves without any success.

"Gabriel Bowman, come out here right now!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the room. "Where is that kid?" I asked myself. Passing though the main room and approaching the door to the rest of his apartment, I considered Gabe's privacy. 

"No, it's not right," I told myself as my hand reached for the doorknob. "Oh, well. Since when have I cared if something was right or not?" I opened the door just in time to catch Mac and Gabe in serious liplock. They broke apart abruptly and I blushed scarlet, really embarrassed.

"Chief!! Can't you knock?" Gabe asked indignantly.

"Bowman," I said, really pissed at his attitude and lack of listening skills, "I've been knocking for the last ten minutes and I even yelled at you so loud I think the people in Chicago could have heard me without much trouble. It's just slightly rude to leave your guest with no knowledge of where you are, especially if they know you're home. Kinda makes them feel unappreciated. I just talked to you for Christ's sake!"

"Jeez, Chief, cool off," Gabe remarked. 

I glared at him. "And you—" I whirled on Mac, who was trying to stifle her giggles, "—why didn't you tell me you two were an item?"

As I was waiting for a response from the couple, I saw their gazes focus behind me.

"Well, the gang's all here," I said, turning around and knowing that it was Ian that would be standing in the doorway.

"I'm not intruding on anything, am I?" he asked, examining the scene before him.

"Nope, I think that's already been taken care of pretty well," I said, frowning at Ian's slight smirk. It had just enough arrogance in it to infuriate me even more. I turned around and looked at Gabe, who was looking at me a little strangely. "Gabriel, will you quit staring at me? Has my face turned a fucking shade of green or something?"

"Sara," Ian warned.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just a little uptight and pissed off," I said, my hands up in surrender. "So, now what? I'm hoping that we can come up with some plan to stop this madness before I completely lose it."


	9. Chapter 9

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Enjoy Chapter 9 and please, please review!

Chapter 9

Even though I was still mad at Sara for barging in, I swallowed the sarcasm that was threatening to come out and continue to annoy Sara and said, "Well, the roots of both of these problems go back to Irons. Why not just get rid of the source?"

Ian and, to my surprise, Sara both disagreed. 

"I can't say that I don't want to dispatch that limey bastard for ruining my life; I do. But now just isn't the right time. The Speakers might, and I can only say might, stop if Irons was dead so they could sink into the shadows and avoid the publicity, but with the White Bulls it's personal. They hate me and they're not afraid to show it. They won't back off. I know too much about them and they know all too well that I can bring them down. So even if we did kill Irons and get rid of the Speakers, we'd still have the White Bulls breathing down our necks."

"Should you and Ian disappear for a while, Sara?" Mac asked, speaking up for the first time.

Sara shrugged. "Tried that already. We could give it another go but I've never had that much confidence in hiding when you could actually be doing something to solve your problem."

"I think it might be best if you and I go see Will. You should meet the Associates; they're good people and they'll be able to help."

"Yep, they're pretty nice," I said. 

Sara whirled and met my eyes. "You know them?"

"Yeah, Mac dragged me along. Seems like an organization working towards a good cause."

"Thanks, Gabe," she said, smiling. 

***

I glanced over at Ian. Something wasn't right. His expression was confused and anxious.

"Something wrong?" I asked. 

Ian made a gesture for quiet and came a little further into the room, positioning himself between the door and myself. Soon someone's footfalls on the tile floor were clearly audible to us. 

"Well, well, if this isn't a meeting of the Sara Petzini Fan Club," an all-too-familiar voice drawled. "Where is the bitch anyway?" 

Ian stiffened at this remark, ready to defend my honor, but I put a hand on his shoulder and stepped out behind from behind him. Dante, Orlinsky, and two other dirty cops that I couldn't quite recognize were darkening Gabe's doorway.

"Ah, there she is."

"What do you want?" I snarled.

"I would think it was obvious. A good friend of mine wants your head on a platterand of course that wouldn't be any skin off of my nose."

"Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual."

Suddenly, before any of us could blink, the two mystery cops grabbed Mac and Gabe, who struggled to get out of their grasp. Orlinsky deluded himself in thinking that he was good enough to cover Ian, while Dante came face to face with me. 

"Your problem is with me, Dante. Those two are innocent; leave them out of it," I said, gesturing to Gabe and Mac. 

"No one who's tight with you is innocent, Petzini. And what about him?" Dante asked, jerking a thumb at Ian who was winning his staring contest with Orlinsky.

"Him? I think he can take care of himself," I said, and with that Ian disarmed Orlinsky and shot the cop with his own weapon. Mac thrust a sharp elbow into her captor's gut and he fell, winded, to the floor. Dante lunged at me but I avoided his attack and watched him fly past me and hit Gabe's bed, stunning him. The Witchblade, which had been itching to show itself during the entire exchange, slid into place on my right forearm and with it I cracked Gabe's captor's skull. The four of us scrambled into the public portion of Gabe's apartment and barricaded ourselves behind some shelves.

"Hope you have insurance on some of this," Ian said to Gabe over his shoulder as a furious Dante and the recovering winded cop ran out of Gabe's room. 

"Sure. I'll just say it was a home invasionand for once I wouldn't be lying on my claim," Gabe remarked.

"PETZINI!" Dante roared.

"Oops. I think we broke one of his friends," Ian whispered.

"Make that two. Remember Orlinsky," I responded at the same volume.

"We won't be having any more trouble with him."

"Petzini, you're going to pay for this!" Dante yelled, searching through the labyrinth that was Talismaniac.com for us.

Ian took two weapons out of his coat and audibly loaded one of them. Dante tried to turn towards the sound but went in the opposite direction, thinking the sound came from there. 

"Sara, you get Mac and Gabe out of here. I'll take care of this problem and follow you."

"This is where we'll be," Mac said, handing him a card identical to the one that she had given me earlier. He accepted it graciously. 

"Hey, hang on, wait a second. Even if you are a macho, bad-ass assassin, I'm not going to just leave you here. I can help you," I murmured.

"Sara, I would feel much better if you would leave; then I wouldn't have to worry about you. Please, for my sake?" He used his most lethal weapon: the sad puppy look. 

I was helpless against that. I looked up at the ceiling, rolling my eyes. "Fine," I muttered. "I'm really going against my better judgement here but I can't stand it when you do that."

He smiled. "I'll meet up with you shortly."

I nodded and Gabriel, Mac, and I crept slowly towards the door. Ian fired a few shots at Dante and the other cop, distracting them from looking at the exit. We were able to make a dash for it, leave the apartment, and close the door before Ian was finished. 

"Gabe?" I asked as we were running.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"You really need to start locking your doors."


	10. Chapter 10

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

I'm still here, folks! Are you in enough suspense yet? Just wait, there's more! Enjoy Chapter 10 and PLEASE review!

Chapter 10

After Sara had escaped with Gabriel and Mac, I studied my surroundings as I hunched behind one of many of Gabriel's large shelves. The heavyset officer that was still recovering from Mac's attack was still in plain sight, but Dante wasn't anywhere to be found. The large display room was filled with an inky darkness because of the scarcity of windows, and what little light actually was able to illuminate it cast deep, thick shadows across the floor, not helping my situation. I wanted nothing more than to leave and go protect Sara but, knowing that if I solved the problem here, we wouldn't have as much to worry about, I strained to keep my eyes on the two rogues. I fired a few shots in rapid succession when I caught a glimpse of Dante behind a large urn on the opposite side of the room. Unfortunately for Gabriel, the urn shattered, and unfortunately for me, Dante vanished again. I was caught up in tracking him for quite some time, firing shots whenever I spotted him. For Sara's sake I told myself to make sure to get rid of the man. He was making her life a hell and I refused to allow it to go on any longer. 

Being especially careful to keep my footfalls silent, a somewhat difficult task on the hardwood floor I was standing on, I took down my barricade, shifted my position, and slowly crept to another location in the room. I noted that Dante's partner-in-crime had vanished from my vision in the short amount of time it took me to move. A bit miffed, I checked my progress on my weapon and, as discreetly as possible, reloaded. Once this was done, I looked for them again, crouching behind the racks and trying to blend into the darkness that blanketed the room. 

Apparently Dante and the other cop were doing the same thing I was, because none of us made any noise to be an indication to our locations. I re-barricaded myself behind another set of shelves and fired some random shots to try and drive the two dirty cops out of their hiding places. Dante's head popped up and zoomed across the floor as he ran low to the ground, and I heard the sound of the more heavyset cop's running as well. I was so focused on getting rid of Dante that I didn't realize was that his buddy was looping behind me.

Moments later my attention suddenly snapped behind me when I heard metal and wood creaking loudly. I whirled around, spotting and reflexively shooting Dante's lackey, who was standing behind me. However, I was unable to wound him before he achieved his objective, which caused the noise I heard: pushing the shelves directly on top of me. I tried to dodge it as it plummeted toward me but was unable to move because of my own barricade. I felt incredibly foolish and could do nothing as it crashed to the wood planking beneath my feet and pinned me to the floor at the waist. As I tried to wriggle free from my situation, an artifact of some kind fell from the shelf in front of me almost as an afterthought, apparently jostled by the downward trip of the other rack. I caught it easily and tossed it gently away from me, but it bumped the shelf again. I tried to cover myself with my arms for protection from the onslaught but they didn't really block the avalanche of merchandise that buried me. The last thing I saw was the cop's leer through a crack in the pile before I succumbed to unconsciousness.

***

I came out from my hiding place after I heard the crash and looked at the situation. Bosley was holding his arm where he had been shot by that Nottingham guy, who was apparently out cold after Bos pushed the shelves over on him. Bos dug him out of the pile of goods, but I knew he had an ulterior motive for his actions. Once Nottingham's head was free, Bos aimed his gun at Nottingham and was about to blow the guy's brains out in reprisal for his own wound when, against my first judgement, I intervened.

"Put down your weapon, Bos. You can't kill this guy," I said. 

"Captain? What are you doing? He's been a huge thorn in our side and now, when we actually have the chance to kill him, you save him? Why the hell would you want me not to shoot the bastard?"

"I'm the boss here, and you'll do what I say, Bosley. Besides, I think he means something to the bitch. I think it'd be better if we kidnap him now that he won't be able to resist and then kill him right in front of Petzini. I've been told that that kind of thing works on her," I said, smirking as I thought back to the bitch's history.

"And anything to shut her down, right Captain?" Bos asked.

"Damn right," I said with a smile. "You okay, Bos?"

"Yeah. Just a flesh wound," he said, wrapping a bandana from his pocket around his arm and tying it with a wince over his wound. "I would have thought that an assassin would have been a better shot."

"Orlinsky would tell you he's a good enough shotif he was still breathing," I snarled, furious at the death of an officer loyal to our cause. "Besides, the guy was cornered when he shot you. He let the bitch and her friends get out and he stayed here to take us on. YepI bet he likes her. No wonder everyone says he's nuts. That proves it right there. Anyone that can stand to be in a room with her for more than five minutes at a time is absolutely, undeniably crazy. Now, let's get him restrained and out of here and I'll call in some backup to take care of the bitch."


	11. Chapter 11

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hope you like Chapter 11! Please review!

Chapter 11

We had made it safely to an alley across the street from the office of William Gerald. Gabe and I scaled the fence into it without much problem and hoisted Mac over but, predictably (since it was my life), we ran into a snag before we could contact Gerald.

"NYPD! Stop and put your hands in the air!" a voice called out. The three of us froze and turned around slowly. Jake and three other cops were standing, gun's drawn, blocking our exit.

"Pez, you've got to make it across the street to Will. Don't worry; we'll lead them on a wild goose chase and keep them off your tail. But they might not follow us long! Hurry!" Mac whispered, and then we split up. Jake waved the three cops after Mac and Gabe and he followed me personally. I took a very roundabout way in making it across the street, sprinting through random alleys and down side streets, hearing Jake panting behind me as he ran.

"Pez! Stop! I'm supposed to bring you in!" he called between heavy breaths.

I wasn't phased by his shouts nor was I out of breath even after the extensive amount of running I had done. When I was satisfied with my job of confusing Jake, I dashed into Gerald's office and looked around for a receptionist. Seeing no one, I pounded on the door of the room where Mr. Gerald probably was and it opened a few moments later. A man about six feet tall with black, severely graying hair and brown eyes framed in black glasses stood before me.

"Yes?" he asked, seeming a bit surprised at my expression. It must have been anxiety and a little fear mixed in.

"Mr. Gerald, I need your help. But before I tell you what's going on, I need you to please hide me for a few minutes and don't let anyone know I'm here. Someone's on my tail and I can't let him find me." 

He seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and, after taking a few quick looks around, ushered me inside. The office was small and rather bland: painted white, typical of a lawyer's habitat, furnished meagerly with just a desk, several chairs, and four bookcases full of law books, one on each wall. There was also a small closet inside, and he gestured to it. "Please feel free to hide in there and then when the coast is clear you can tell me the whole story. Oh, and please, call me William." 

I thanked him fervently and slipped into the dark closet, closing the door behind me. The room was quiet as William resumed his work but about five minutes later there was another knock on his door.

"Mr. Gerald?" It was Jake.

William must have gone to the door, because the sound was less muffled the next time Jake spoke.

"Mr. Gerald, my colleague and I thought we saw a woman run in here a few moments ago. She's wanted for the murder of two police officers and the sad thing is that she is one herself. Can we have a look around?"

"Absolutely. I have nothing to hide, gentlemen." 

It was almost like he stressed the last syllable to warn me. So Jake had brought company. Damn; it would be harder for me to get out. 

Guess I'd better find a better place to hide in this mess,' I thought. They'll search the place for sure.' 

I felt my way around in the large, messy closet, and surprisingly, found a large empty box with a blanket inside. 

Why would a lawyer have a big empty box and a blanket in his closet? Hell, why would a lawyer even have a closet to begin with?' I thought. Well, guess Irons is right. There are no coincidences when it comes to the Witchblade. This was all probably predestined or some other shit like that.' 

I decided to think about that later. I climbed inside the box and curled up, throwing the blanket over the top and smoothing it out, trying to make it look as natural as possible. I heard Jake and the other cop talking to William as they looked around in the tiny office, then heard the cop ask, "Hey, what's in there?" I froze.

"There's not much of anything in there worth looking at. A lot of old law books I don't use daily, mostly odds and endsit's really not worth your time, gentlemen."

"Everything's worth our time when we're looking for this woman, Mr. Gerald. She's armed and very, very dangerous," Jake replied seriously. I could just imagine the grave expression on his face. Since he was talking to the police, the lawyer had no real choice but to consent. 

The Witchblade activated of its own will and converted to gauntlet form, ready to defend me from whoever took the blanket off my box. I heard them walk into the closet, barely large enough for them to fit in comfortably, and realized that they were relying on the light from the office to be able to see anything; they didn't have flashlights. I held my breath as I heard them curse when they stepped on or tripped over something as they searched through the contents of the closet. Luckily they didn't even bother my box at all. I heard them leave and Jake said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gerald. We're sorry for disturbing you." Then their footsteps died away down the hall and I got out of the box, creeping to the door of the closet and looking out to make sure the coast was clear. When I was sure I stepped out.

"Miss? Are you all right?" He looked at me and his eyes widened. I looked down and noticed that the Witchblade was still in gauntlet form. 

"You'reyou're the Wielder," he said in disbelief.

I nodded and approached him, shaking his left hand seeing as my right was slightly occupied. "I'm Sara Pezzini. I can't thank you enough for hiding me."

"Well, if they had been looking hard enough, they would have found you, I'm sure. It's truly a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Pezzini. I'm glad you've finally come, although I know that your situation must be dire for you to even be here at all."

"Please, call me Sara, William." Too much of the Ms. Pezzini' stuff made me nauseous really quickly.

"All rightSara," he conceded, like Ian in the fact that he was reluctant to not show the utmost respect at all times.

"Anyway, back to my point. The story that those two cops that just showed up here a minute ago fed you was all pure bullshit. I'm not armed save the Witchblade, and I didn't kill two cops. I did knock one out, and I'm not denying that I'm dangerous—" I said, winking, "—but I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need you to take me to the Associates; I was told that they could help me. I need all the support I can get, and my friend Mac told me that you were the person to ask."

"Oh, Mac told you about us, did she? Well, she would know. Of course I'll take you. Come with me." He locked up the office behind him and took me to his car. The Witchblade seemed to trust him, so I did as well, but I was ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. We got into his car and sped away toward the warehouse district, not knowing what would be waiting ahead of us.


	12. Chapter 12

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

I hope you enjoy Chapter 12! Please read and review!

Chapter 12

Sound returned to me before sight. I could hear snippets of Dante's conversation with several other cops.

"Is he out?" some cop asked.

"Yeah, got knocked over the head when a bunch of crap buried him in a store downtown," Dante sneered.

"Too bad. He's still alive, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately. He'll be useful to us later; that's the only reason that he's still breathing. The bastard killed Orlinksy."

"Damn! I never thought he'd be one to bite the bullet. This guy's lucky he's still in one piece; surprised you didn't rip him apart." 

"I would have if I hadn't known he would be useful later." 

My eyes opened and my vision was bleary and unfocused. I blinked several times and realized that the world had flipped upside down. Upon further study I realized that two very large and muscular cops were carrying me face up down the hall of a large building, apparently following Dante. It turned out that they were carrying me through a warehouse, and when they reached their destination they literally threw me into a chair in the center of the room and chained me to it. I didn't see any reason to cause trouble or try an escape; they were obviously going to keep me alive until it suited them otherwise. I struggled a bit against my chains but they were bolted to the floor, giving the first indication that I was conscious. Somehow I had the feeling that I wasn't the first person that had been chained to that chair.

Cowards. Won't even be in the room with me if I'm not either chained or unconscious. Pretty sad, really,' I thought as they finished fastening the fetters that encircled my wrists and ankles.

"Well, welcome back to the world of the waking, Nottingham," Dante growled at me. "Feeling okay?"

"I don't think you care whether I feel all right or not, Dante, so why don't we just skip the pleasantries and let you get to the point?" I inquired, deciding that it would be best to play a bad-ass. I played many roles during my life: the obedient servant for Irons, the knowledgeable Guardian with Sara, and now the bad-ass assassin for DanteI wouldn't give him any satisfaction. 

"You're quick. Good. That'll be helpful. Now, since you're so helpful, you're going to help us with a little problem we're having."

"And why exactly would I do that?"

"Because we seem to have you at a disadvantage, Mr. Nottingham: you're chained to a chair bolted to the floor in the middle of a huge room and we're all armed."

"You won't kill me. I'm too important at this point."

"You're right. But that doesn't mean we won't shoot you somewhere non-fatal but painful as hell you if you don't cooperate. Now, Nottingham, I'm going to start by asking nicely. Where's your friend Petzini?"

"Before I answer that, Captain, I'd like to know one thing. Why is it exactly that you continually mispronounce her name when you say it on a daily basis?" I knew I was pushing the limit but I wanted to see whether or not Dante was bluffing. He got up right in my face, the aforementioned features contorted in a gruesome grimace. Good God, he needs some Certs,' I thought.

"One more time, Nottingham. Where's Petzini?" he asked, punctuating his question with a spray of spit. 

I grimaced in return and said, "I have no idea, but I know that if I did have an idea of her location, you would be the last person to know of it."

He backhanded me but it didn't phase me at all. Just keep doing that, Dante. You'll get yours as soon as I get out of this damned chair.'

"I've got news for you, Nottingham. You're going to help us whether you really want to or not. Once Petzini learns we've got you, she'll come running down here in save-the-day mode and she'll arrive just in time to be able to watch you die. That's how you'll help, and I'm sure she'll get a kick out of that, seeing as how she's watched most of her friends die that way, too. Then once you're toast, we'll kill her." Dante sounded strangely chipper.

"Oh, yeah, she'll get a major kick out of that. Real hiyah." I rolled my eyes. Like Sara would really let that happen.

***

William and I pulled up to a nondescript warehouse on the edge of town. It had been originally built out of brick and had been covered with plaster by some moron; the plaster was flaking away to reveal the brick anyway, so it was completely pointless. It was really rundown on the outside, so much so that I was skeptical that we were even in the right place.

"Are you sure that this is it? I mean, no offense or anything, but this place looks like a dump."

"Exactly. We rely on people to perceive it as such. Come on," he said, getting out of the car. I followed suit and trailed him into the building. The initial room was tiny; a staircase going up and another going down practically filled it up.

"Which way?"

"We go down." He started down the stairs and again I brought up the rear. He was out of sight within seconds but I continued down, knowing that I was going the right direction. I heard his voice at the end of what seemed to be an endless stairwell:

"She's on her way down. Get ready." 

Warily I came down to the bottom of the dark stairwell, not knowing what to expect, that emptied into a hall leading to a dimly lit room. Could I trust William? If Mac recommended him, then probably, but nothing was set in stone. As I proceeded into the room I could make out a few shapes but nothing definite. Suddenly the room was flooded with light. I squinted to try and adjust to the harsh introduction to the bright lights. The room was very modern, with many stations of computers positioned all around. Pictures of the Witchblade in many of its previous forms provided the only color in the room and were positioned all around its perimeter. And, to my surprise, about twenty people, including William, Mac, and Gabe, were standing there waiting for me.

"These are the Associates, Sara. Everyone, this is Sara Pezzini, our Wielder," Will announced. "We're glad you've come."

"Welcome to our refuge, Sara," Mac said, and as she spoke, everyone bowed. 

"Whoa, seriously, you don't have to bow to me. I get that enough from Nottingham," I said, a bit embarrassed; I felt the blush creep across my cheeks and down my neck.

"Well, we were partly bowing to you, Sara, but mainly it was to Mac here," William said.

I responded by blinking several times in rapid succession. "What? Why?" 

"She's the leader of the Associates."

My jaw dropped as I stared at Mac. "Seriously? Goddamn, Mac, why didn't you tell me? I was under the impression that my buddy Will here was the boss."

"That was part of the plan, although I was intending to tell you the truth sooner. However, the police interrupted us before I got a chance. As you were trying to lose Jake, I called William and told him you were coming. I trust this stodgy bloke has treated you halfway descent?"

"Yep. Perfect gentleman, Mac. So that's why you let me in, no questions asked," I said, turning to Will, now understanding. 

"Yes. I wasn't sure of it, though, until you came out of the closet with the Witchblade covering your forearm. It was truly amazing; I'd never seen it up close before, only in pictures. Up until that point I was wondering if I'd have to get out a weapon to defend myself."

"I'm surprised that you didn't have a pistol in the pocket of your trousers, Will," Mac said with a grin, her accent coming across more than usual.

"Let's just hope you don't have to really see it in action, Will. Now, who are your friends?"

Mac, Will, and Gabe introduced me to several of them directly and promised that I'd meet the others later.

Michaela Kane, typically called Mikki, was a short girl of about 23 years with straight black hair that just barely touched the tops of her shoulders and deep brown eyes. Glasses with black oval frames covered her eyes and she wore a knee-length gray dress and a long white lab coat. She was very friendly and I found out later that she was the head computer technician and scientist for the group. She reminded me of Vicki, only quieter and with a somewhat less morbid profession. 

On the other hand, Mikki's assistant, Hope Chandler, never stopped talking. She had curly red hair and blue eyes and tended to be on the annoying side; her saving grace was that when she really wanted to be, she was very serious and was a spectacular assistant in the lab.

The only other person I remembered from the Associates without constant reminding from Mac was a young African-American man by the name of David Branch. He was tall and muscular and was one of the Associates assigned to security duty. He radiated strength and reminded me a bit of Moby, the former Black Dragon, in appearance: same color skin tone and eyes, but with more hair. I was glad to meet him, but before I could really start an intelligent conversation with him, Will, Mac, and Gabe whisked me away to another part of the room.

"Hey, you guys, before you tell me something else that'll confuse me, it's question time," I said, making the time-out' signal. 

"Shoot," Mac replied. "What do you want to know?"

"Where's Ian? Have any of you seen him lately?"

The trio exchanged dark, somewhat nervous looks.

"What?" I demanded, picking up on the negative vibe. "What aren't telling me?"

Mac decided to answer me. "Sara, we haven't heard a word from Ian for about two hours. We have no idea where he is."


	13. Chapter 13

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Please, please read and review!

Chapter 13

Gabe took that opportunity to add his input. "I saw Mac give him the address of where we would be, so"

"So if nothing was amiss, he'd be here," I finished. "Damn, something's seriously wrong. Where could he be?"

Just then as I was trying to think, stunned that Ian hadn't shown up, my cell phone rang.

"What?" I answered, truly in a less than friendly mood. 

"Hello, Petzini."

Could this day possibly get any more irritating?' I asked myself as every muscle in my body tensed with hatred at the sound of that voice. My trio of advisors noticed immediately.

"Chief?" Gabe asked. "What's going on?"

"It's Dante," I mouthed. Gabe frowned, Mac nodded, and Willjust gave me a blank stare. "Tell you later," I silently added for his benefit.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked frigidly as I turned my full attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Now, now, Petzini, I simply wanted to let you know that a friend of yours has paid me a visit and decided to stay a while."

"What the?"

"Has anyone in your entourage been missing for a while? Tall, dark, and dangerous? Has a serious fetish for black clothing?"

"You're actually trying to tell me that you're holding Ian Nottingham prisoner? Don't make me laugh, Dante; that's pretty farfetched."

"I'm not trying to make you laugh."

"Well, I don't accept your bullshit, Dante; now tell me the real reason that you called me. I'm dying to know."

"There's one thing I can say to your credit, Petzini: You sure as hell aren't gullible. I've seen more tractable personalities on mules. Maybe this will convince you," Dante replied, and there was silence on the line for a few moments. 

"Dante? Where are you, you son of a bitch? What are you playing at?" I called, trying to get him back on the line.

"Sara?"

I started. It was unmistakably Ian's voice that came over the wires and reached my ears. "Ian? Is that you?" I asked even though I knew the answer. 

"It is I. Are you all right?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, but to answer you, yes, I'm fine. What the hell happened? How'd they get the drop on you of all people? This is unreal."

"They were lucky. One of the other cops working with Dante pushed some shelves over on me and I was temporarily rendered unconscious. When I woke up I was being carried here."

"Where's here'?" 

"Some kind of warehouse–"

Ian was abruptly cut off and the sounds of a fight flooded through the phone.

"Was that enough to prove he's here, Petzini?" Dante was back on the line.

"What did you do to him, you bastard? Where is he?" I demanded to know.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Nottingham is unable to come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?"

"Cut the crap, Dante, and don't think for one minute that you're going to get away with this. If you've hurt him I swear the next one to bleed will be you."

"A hollow threat, Sara."

"That's no threat, Dante. That's a promise. One that I fully intend to keep just as soon as you're within my sight. Remember that." I hung up on him and turned towards the staircase. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?" Gabe asked, blocking my exit.

"I'm going to find Ian."

"Do you really think that's such a good idea, Sara?" Mac sternly inquired, appearing at my elbow. "Ian sacrificed his freedom for us; do you really want that gesture to have been in vain?"

"All I know is I want him here and not with those clods."

"How do you know Dante hasn't killed him? It could all be a trap," Gabe stated.

"I know Ian's alive. Dante won't kill him." I pushed past Gabe and started up the stairs.

"Why not?" Mac wanted to know, brushing back a stray lock of her brown hair.

I whirled around and faced her. "Because if he does, then he has absolutely nothing to stop me from killing him and his little club without bias," I stated, tapping the Witchblade with a finger. I started back up the stairs.

"Sara, wait!" It was Will this time. I turned again and gave him a "What?" look.

"Don't you think it would be better if we could work out a plan to rescue Ian? I mean, if this Dante chap is as evil and as bent on killing you as he seems to be, it wouldn't be wise to just run in there and let him shoot you."

"I can take care of myself."

"As can Ian. He'll be able to hang on for a little while longer, Sara. Just cool down."

"I can't! If I relax I'll go crazy. I have to do somethingI can't just sit here and twiddle my thumbs."

"Well, for the time being, why don't you come with me?" Will asked. "The other Associates are dying to meet you. After you get through all of them, then we'll see what we can do. Just give it some time."

"We need a plan, Chief, and you know it. If we don't approach this carefully, the next time you see Ian he could be floating somewhere. Facedown."

"Love the imagery, Gabe. Will, if you don't mind, could I rest for a few minutes before all the intros? Is there anywhere I can crash for a while?"

"Sure, Sara. We've got a few rooms. Follow me."

Will and I left the main room via the staircase and when we reached the ground level took the other flight to the upper floor of the warehouse and opened the first door to the left of the stairs. 

"This is probably one of the safest places you can be, Sara. Anytime you need a place to stay, this room will be open for you." 

I barely took the time to glance around the room. It was a very simple room with pale yellow walls that was furnished well and seemed quite comfortable. I beamed at Will even though I felt like I was about to drop. 

"I'll just leave you alone for a while. Come back down when you're ready to meet the others." He left the room and quietly closed the door. I made my way to the bed and fell facedown on it. Seconds later I was asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back! Hope you enjoy Chapter 14 and please, please review. I haven't been getting many lately and that makes me a very unhappy little fanfic writer. And unhappy writers lead to stories that don't get updated very oftenfigure it out. ;) 

Chapter 14

"Mr. Irons?" A female voice that came through the intercom on my desk disrupted my train of thought as it echoed through my office. I tore my eyes away from the roaring fire in the hearth (the depths of which I had been staring into for the past half-hour) and half expected to see Ian standing behind my desk. I turned back to my desk and punched the button on the intercom with force I wished to inflict on my rogue "employee."

"Yes?" I asked sharply.

"There's a call for you on line 1. A Jackson Miller?"

The leader of the Speakers. There must be trouble. "Put it through immediately," I snapped as I picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Kenneth. It's Jackson."

"As I was informed. I'm surprised that you have deigned to actually speak to me. Your organization tends to do otherwise, does it not?"

He ignored my comment and said, "Well, so far the operation isn't running as smoothly as we were hoping it would, unfortunately."

"What do you mean? I'm paying you a small fortune to get rid of Sara Pezzini. The only condition is for you to bring the bracelet she wears back to me. Do whatever you have to do to retrieve it; it's possible that you might have trouble removing it."

"I don't know, I just don't like this."

"You've disposed of many more prestigious people than her, Jackson. I'm surprised that you're having trouble tracking down a simple homicide detective."

"We thought we had done the job when we caught her in the underground building with Nottingham downtown, but they surfaced a little later. And now that the Bulls have the bargaining chip, Dante's decided that he's not cooperating."

"Why doesn't that surprise me? Send a few more of your agents over to him to help him outyou understand, a peace offering of sorts. Who is the bargaining chip, that Bowman boy?"

"Nope. They got Nottingham."

"You mean to tell me that Dante and his inept group of so-called "crusaders" captured my Ian?"

"Apparently. They're planning to use him as bait for Pezzini. I have a feeling it will work. One of my inside guys said that Dante said she was pretty torn up by this information. So, any instructions for me?"

"Just try to cooperate with Dante for now. If he becomes a problem, eliminate him."

"You're certainly going to a lot of trouble to get a bracelet from some woman."

"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from passing judgement on matters that you know nothing about, Jackson. Now, are you going to carry out my instructions and get paid for your trouble or not?"

"We'll continue as planned. I just don't see why we're killing someone for a piece of jewelry."

"It would serve you well not to question my motives, Jackson. You used to be so obedient. Just follow my directions and you'll get your money; your target's background is of no concern to you. Goodbye, Jackson." 

I hung up, sitting back in my chair. Jackson Miller was actually developing a consciencewonder of wonders. The man used to be one of the most cold-hearted, cold-blooded killers alive and when his leg was irreparably damaged in a shoot-out, he decided to recruit a group to do his work for him while he set up the business. Thus the Speakers were born. Jackson preferred secrecy and demanded absolute loyalty, which is how he invented the policy of the silent assassins under his thumb. Really quite ingenious, if not unusual. The man was a true genius in the criminal artsI just hoped he wasn't losing his edge. It could prove fatal for him.

***

"Mr. Miller?"

"Yes?" I called through the door.

"We just received a call for you from aBruno Dante. He said it was very important. He wanted you to return the call and said that you'd know the number." My receptionist, Joyce, delivered the report. She was a tall, thin woman with black hair pulled into a severe bun and thick glasses with horn-rimmed frames. She held a clipboard and had flipped through a myriad of pages to find my message.

"Thank you, Joyce. Ill get right on it." 

She nodded and left.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. Kenneth Irons was a real bastard, but he paid well. I was curious about this Sara Pezzini business. I opened the dossier we had on her and looked at the provided photo. She was a beautiful woman. So why would Ken want her dead? I knew it had something to do with a bracelet she wore, but beyond that I was pretty clueless. Was Ken the lover scorned and somehow she stole it from him without his immediate knowledge? No. Those green eyes of hers seemed too smart. She'd be able to see through Ken in a minute. So what was the deal? 

"Damn, Jack. You're actually growing a conscience. Remember Rule Number One: Don't ask questions. Ken's probably pissed at me about our little conversation. Better lay low for a while. Meanwhile, I'll see if I can find out more about this Pezzini woman. For some reason I don't want to kill her without knowing why."

***

"Mac!" Will called.

"I'm in here, Willie." 

A few moments later Will entered the room after coming down the stairs. I was sitting in a chair waiting for him. 

"What's going on? How's Sara?" I asked.

"She's fine. I took her to a room upstairs. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She just flopped facedown on the bed and was out like a light."

"Good. She needs some rest. I was afraid she was going to wear herself out."

"She's really worried about Ian, I can tell."

"As can I. She thinks very loudly," I commented with a tiny smile. "She's in head over heels, Willie. Hell, she knows it, we know it, and even Ian probably knows it. The problem is that she refuses to admit it to herself. I don't think she wants to get hurt again. Almost everyone she loves has died in the past year: her partner and best friend, her childhood friend Maria, her lover, her captain and good friendso many people. She doesn't have that many friends left. I'm worried about her. She's decided to shut herself away from the world, always be behind the barrier just in case someone gets to closebut she's got to realize that it's okay to actually come out of her shell. Yet every time she makes an effort to open up, she gets hurt and sprints back to her cell to stay there until she dares to emerge once moreif ever she chooses to do so."

"So that's what's wrong. That's why she always seems so distant" Will trailed off. "Well, on another note, I'm headed to tell Mikki to scan for warehouses affiliated with the Speakers. Maybe something will come up." 

"Good idea. Let me know if something comes up." He nodded and left. I sat back in my chair and looked at the stone in my necklace. It swirled a little bit and I got drowsy, like I always did when a vision was about to come. I closed my eyes and succumbed to it, waiting for it to begin.


	15. Chapter 15

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

This is REALLY important! Before you read Chapter 15, you should read One's Will by Pixie-Dust so you can get some background information on Raven Cole, the character that Pixie-Dust has been kind enough to let me play with for a while. On with Danger Zone, and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the advertising, Pix!

Chapter 15

I found myself in a large hospital room that seemed familiar to me. Part of me was almost certain that I had been there before while another part denied this sensation. Almost against my will my legs propelled me to a specific bed, recently occupied, as I could tell by the unmade sheets, but now empty. As I stared at it, I heard heavy footsteps behind me. I could sense a person's presence coming ever closer, and this person was wearing heavy boots, I deduced from the sound the steps created. I could take the suspense no longer and whirled around to view my companion. 

It was a woman that stood behind me, tall and rather thin, dressed completely in black, and she had black hair reaching past her shoulders and eyes like onyx. She reminded me a bit of Ian in appearance and choice of wardrobe, what with the long black coat, tight black knitted shirt, baggy black pants with a myriad of zipper pockets, and the steel-toed boots that made her presence known. She glanced a bit wistfully at the cot, then looked directly at me. Her eyes were so powerful that it seemed she was staring straight through me and not at me.

"You are Andreanna McPherson?" she inquired.

I nodded. "But please, call me Mac. It seems like I know you."

"It might seem that way, but you and I have never met. I believe you know me by reputation. I am Raven Cole."

"Oh, Ian and Sara's friend. Yes, I've heard of you. It's nice to finally meet youbut why here?"

Raven looked away from me and toward the forlorn little cot. "I used to lay here, up until very recently. I was in a coma forI'm still not sure how long. But I have clairvoyant powers like you, although possibly stronger, and I was aware of what was going on around me to some degree. I knew trouble was brewing for a long time, but this is the first opportunity that has arisen enabling me to do something about it. My telepathic broadcasting powers were greatly impaired by my accident, but they seem to be at full power or near that level now."

"So you know what's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a little. Let's see: The White Bulls and the infamous Speakers are tracking Sara simultaneously, and these groups are holding her Guardian, the most important person in her life, hostage. She must trust a group of people she barely knows to save him—and herself, for that matter. She is scared out of her mind but refuses to admit it to anyone, she won't come out of her shell, and if this continues much longer she will have an intensely messy self-destruction. Please correct me where I was wrong." She was extremely bitter, her eyes hard as she looked at me.

"Yikes. Well, that pretty much sums it up," I said quietly. 

"Thank you. Now what do you intend to do about it?"

"Me?"

"Of course you. You are one of the only people she can—and does—trust. That means something, does it not?" 

At this point Raven was really starting to sound like Ian. She took off her coat and folded it neatly on the bed while I stared at her.

"What? It's hot in here." Raven shrugged off my confusion.

After she removed her coat, I could see the straps that hugged her body, having been hidden under it previouly. She turned around and I noticed that the straps held a scabbard for a katana, similar to Ian's. The silver Celtic rings on her fingers glinted in the fluorescent light of the hospital. Raven sat on the bed beside her coat and I sat in a chair by the cot, waiting for her to speak.

"So. It does mean something to you that Sara trusts you, yes?"

"I suppose..."

"Oh, so now we're running on suppositions? For God's sake give me some certainty, Mac!"

"Yes, it means something to me."

"Now what are you going to do?"

"I could be there for Sarato make sure she doesn't do anything foolish."

"An admirable start, Mac. Pray continue."

"Umm"I faltered. Raven's ebony gaze was stifling my creativity. "The Associates and I should find Ian and rescue him for Sara."

"That won't be necessary. I know where he is. On the morrow I will come and collect Sara and we will rescue him ourselves."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, Sara could become distracted and could very easily be killed. I cannot let the Wielder die."

"But what of her Guardian, Mac?" Raven asked angrily. "Will you just leave him there to rot?"

"Of course not! But the safest place for Sara is safely behind the walls of the Associates' warehouse!" I protested.

"Foolish girl! Would you then doom Sara to die by your own hand? For if you do not allow her to save him—with some assistance from me—you will do just that. I need some help in infiltrating a large group and Sara's the best choice. Sara's strong, toughshe can most assuredly handle herselfbut if something were to go wrong if I went by myself, somehow resulting in Ian's death, she'd go mad in a very short amount of time. 

"You are the High Priestess of the Witchblade, Mac. You have more knowledge of the Blade than almost its relations do put together, even the Guardian in some instances, and yet throughout time the Wielder has sometimes been condemned to a dark fate by a error resulting from a misinterpretation of information by you. Do you really want that to happen again?" She glared at me. "Think upon it. I shall be at your door on the morrow. I will expect your decision to be made by then."

And with that my eyes snapped open and the vision ended.

"Man, that Raven's touchy. It's like she thinks she's the only one worried about them, like she's the only one capable of helping themwell, at least she's on their side and not working against them. She'll probably be a powerful ally, from what I've heard about her," I murmured to myself. "Better go see how Sara's doing." 

I got up from my chair and climbed the two flights of stairs leading to the upstairs rooms. The door to her room was ajar and I crept in, making sure not to make noise that would disturb her. Sometime during her rest she had flipped over on her back and was tossing around a bit. When I came near her, my necklace started glowing and pulsing in sync with the Witchblade, signaling to me that she was in the midst of a dream caused by the bracelet. I decided to wait and make sure she was all right and that she didn't freak out when she woke up. 


	16. Chapter 16

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Read and review! I hope you've enjoyed what you read of Danger Zone and I hope you'll keep reading it. By the way, I know I don't say this much, but everyone knows that I don't own any of this except my original characters like Mac, etc. Don't use them without my permission! Thanks!

Chapter 16

"Sara!"

Someone called my name and the sound reverberated through the hall of the building I was inside of. Upon further inspection, I found that I was in a warehouse.

Not another one,' I thought. Do criminals ever have original thoughts? Or are the costs of renting these places cheaper than anything else? Where am I now?'

"Sara!" the voice called again. I looked around, trying to find the person who was calling me. When I looked to the end of the hall, I saw that it was Raven Cole that was calling me. I ran to her, stopping about two feet away. 

"Raven? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you, Sara." Raven pointed into a room on her left. "He is in there." 

"What? Who?"

"The one you seek, Sara. He needs your help. Hurry; he's waiting," Raven said, ushering me inside. 

"What about you? Are you coming in?" I asked.

She shook her head, smiling slightly. "You need to do this on your own. But I will be here if you need me. I'll keep a look out for the goons," she said with a wink. 

Cautiously I made my way into the room. It was an enormous room with a wire catwalk about seven feet off the ground stretching all around the perimeter. It was empty save one chair that seemed to be bolted to the floor, and in that chair

"Sara!"

"Ian! Oh, God, I've been looking everywhere for you!" I said, running up to him. "Are you all right?" I knelt by him.

"I can honestly say that I have been better, but under the circumstances I'm fine," he said. 

"Good. Now hold still." The Witchblade activated and I used it to break the chains binding Ian. He stood a bit shakily, since he had been off his feet for a while, and the two of us made our way toward the exit and freedom. 

We hadn't yet reached the door when Raven suddenly flew backwards into the room, having been pushed violently, and she landed with a sickening thud on the concrete. She didn't rise. Ian and I both snapped our attention to her, running over to her side to see if she was all right. Ian roused her and she looked around, glaring over my shoulder. I turned and stood up, Ian with me, as we looked at the person who had, contrary to all my thoughts, put Raven in that position. We found ourselves staring down the barrel of Jake McCartey's Glock.

"Jake, what the hell is going on here? Get that goddamned gun out my face; I'm your partner for God's sake."

"Could have fooled me, Pez. What do you think you're doing? We've got this guy with charges pending and you're helping him walk out of here?"

"What do you mean, charges pending? He hasn't done anything to justify this," I said, gesturing to the chair.

"Oh, but he has, Petzini."

I cringed. Dante had finally appeared on the scene. 

"Good work, McCartey," he said, clapping the rookie on the shoulder. My eyes widened, then darted to Ian. He nodded slightly. I couldn't believe it. I looked back at Jake. "I can't believe you, McCartey. You're one of the people making my life a hell! You traitor; you don't deserve that badge."

"Well, thank you so much for your input, Petzinias usual you haven't been able to keep your thoughts to yourself. I can't tell you how much it pleases me to do this," Dante sneered. 

About seven cops appeared out of the woodwork, four restraining me and three trying to handle Ian. I struggled but got nowhere. I knew this was the end for me. Dante leveled his gun at me and fired, and time nearly stopped. The bullet's casing slowly dropped to the floor with a light clink, spinning and showing its bull tattoo while the bullet itself crawled toward me, rotating at a pace so deliberate I knew that there was no chance for me. I watched it as it came creeping in my direction, trying to activate the Witchblade and failing, and then I blinked. Time resumed, the cops let go of me, and I hit the floor. I wasn't alone in my downward trip, so I, having my eyes closed, assumed I had taken one of the cops down with me. 

This is it. I'm done. Is this what it's like to die? At least it doesn't hurtwait just one second. If I'd gotten shot, there would most assuredly be pain.'

Right before I opened my eyes, I felt the drops on my forehead. One, two, three. They startled me out of my stupor and I finally raised my eyelids. I then realized why I hadn't gotten shot. Ian, apparently, had broken free from those restraining him and had taken the bullet for me. His face hovered over me, and I realized that the drops on my forehead had been drops of Ian's blood

I screamed bloody murder, sitting up rapidly. I took in my surroundings, trying to calm myself down and realizing that I wasn't in the Bulls' building but in the upstairs bedroom of the Associates' warehouse.

There are way too many warehouses in this city,' I managed to think in the midst of my shock. Mac was sitting by my bed looking terrified.

"Pez? You okay? Damn, you scared me. You were thrashing around and screaming like a banshee and I had to wake you up," she said, gesturing to her hand. In it she held her necklace, which most likely had just been touched to the stone of the Witchblade. 

I tried to calm myself down, breathing deeply. My dream couldn't have been a good omen. Suddenly I felt the drops again and flinched, looking for their source. Through the room's only window leading out to the darkening sky, I could just make out that it was raining rather heavily, and apparently there was a leak directly over my bed, which must have created the most frightening part of my dream. 


	17. Chapter 17

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry I've been gone so long, but life's been evil. I just now got a chance to post this, although it's been taking up space on my laptop for a while. Hope you like it, because it took me a long time to fix this up the way I wanted it. Please read and review!

Chapter 17

I curled up into a little ball, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my head on them. My heart was pounding and I found myself trying not to cry from both relief and fear. I would have given anything to have Ian sitting next to me at that moment. He always gave me strength. But when I needed him he was God-knows-where, possibly dead or wounded. I tried not to think about that. The look on his face in my dreamThat was always what he looked like when he was protecting me. I saw a version of it in the exercise room of his refugewhen? Today? It couldn't still be today. Too much time had passedI felt years older when only hours had gone by.

"Pez?" Mac asked gently. 

I realized that I hadn't yet spokenI had just lapsed off into La-La-Land. 

"I'm all right. I just had a bone-chilling nightmare but otherwise I'm just fine."

Mac looked at me dubiously and said, "Well, anyway, Willie went out and got us some food, so if you're hungry, it's about 6:00. Thought you might want something."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks. Sorry about the space-out back there. That dream really messed me up. What scared me was" I trailed off. "What scared me was the fact that it could actually happen , and that's the last thing I want."

"I had a vision a little while ago. It was almost like a dream but I know it was real. Do you know some woman named Raven Cole?"

"Yeah, I know her. Why?" I asked warily. I wasn't really looking forward to finding out where this was going.

"She showed up in my vision and she was lecturing me. I don't think she likes me, and I don't particularly like her. She had this awful attitude and was treating me like I was a child. This Raven was throwing accusations around like they were boomerangs and was acting like she's the only one who wants to help you out."

"Well, she's a powerful ally, but I thought she was in a coma."

"She said she had been until recently. We were meeting in her old hospital room, but she was already out of there and was up and about. She said she was coming to see you tomorrow."

"Why? I'm not her best friend or anything."

"She said that she was coming to help you."

I blinked several times in rapid succession. Major déjà vu washed over me.

–flashback–

* "I'm here to help you, Sara." *

–flash forward–

"Okaywell, that's nice. Any hints as to what she's going to do?"

Mac shrugged. "She was just lecturing me and she mentioned saving Ian."

"What, she wants you to save him? I have every intention of doing that myself."

"Raven wants to help you do that, but I can't let you go, Pez. You might get killed."

I snorted with derision. "And what about Ian? If you think I'm just going to leave him there when I can do something to help him, Mac, then you're greatly mistaken."

"Pez, I have to take your safety into consideration and this just won't work. You need to stay here."

I had finally had enough. 

"Mac, you're a wonderful friend and I appreciate what you're trying to do for me. Really, I do. But I put my life on the line every single day, and I'm okay with that. It's just slightly ridiculous to think that I'll go out of my way to stay out of trouble when I've never bothered to before. I'm sick and tired of running away; that's all I've been doing for as far back as I can remember for the pastI don't know how long. I've been running and running and I have yet to go anywhere," I said, curling back up into my ball. 

Mac didn't reply. I doubt that anything could really have followed that little soliloquy. 

"I wish that everyone would stop trying to protect me because of this stupid thing!" I said after a few moments of silence, angrily brandishing the Witchblade. "You, Will, Gabe, and hell, even Ian, are acting like mother hens and I'm scared to death that Ian's going to get killed because of me, either by the Bulls or someone else after it. He seems too damn willing to jump in front of a bullet for me, and all because of this stupid bracelet."

"I'm sorry about being so overprotective, Pez, it's just thaton several occasions throughout time, I have been the reason that you were condemned to something terrible, once or twice death, because I didn't understand the signs. I just don't want that to happen again."

"It won't. Trust me. I can take care of myself and I'm pretty sure everything will be fine. But I am going to save Ian and that's that. Now, come on. My mind's made up and you can't change it, so let's go get some food. I'm starved."

***

The hours that I was stuck in the warehouse crawled by. The muscles in my arms and legs were beginning to ache from being chained up for so long. The constant taunting from Dante that implied that Sara had no desire to come "rescue" me, and the mindless chatter of the cops guarding me was grating on my nerves. Apparently it was raining outside and the droplets of water were drumming on the roof of the warehouse in a maddeningly loud fashion. The situation was enough to drive anyone crazy.

Sara should be here soon; I just hope she'll be relatively careful. I didn't go to so much trouble to get myself captured so she could find those tormenting her to set it up for her to get herself killed in the process.' 

It wouldn't be difficult to get out of the White Bulls' little warehouse. I could get out of the chains and take one of the cops by surprise without much trouble, securing a weapon, and then escape would be simple. But that wasn't why I was there. 

I knew that somewhere amidst all of that technology that the Associates had at their disposal was a device capable of tracking phone calls. Dante was relatively dangerous, I'd admit, but a genius he was not; only a fool would have placed a call like that. I knew that Sara was just waiting for the rest of her information to fall into place and there would be nothing in existence that would be able to stop her once she was on a roll. The Witchblade would be in place on her forearm, ready to do some damage, and that "ten feet tall and bulletproof" attitude she had would show though the gleam in her eyes when she burst through that door. Then I would actually make an effort to get out of my chair and it would only be a matter of time before the White Bulls went down.


	18. Chapter 18

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry that I tend to be AWOL quite frequently but I'm back! I'll try really hard to post more soon but right now my life is really hectic. Enjoy Chapter 18!

Chapter 18

After I'd eaten some dinner and had taken some time to calm down from my eventful afternoon, my thoughts began to run a little more smoothly than before. I was actually able to have a somewhat pleasant conversation with the Associates and forgot about my problems for longer than a millisecond. At least, until they became the topic of the conversation.

"Well, we've got some good news, Sara. We were able to trace Dante's phone call, although it was pretty difficult to isolate the signal with all of the different ones bouncing all over the place," Will announced. 

"What did you do?"

Will looked around but none of the people who had helped him were there. "I think we tapped into the cell tower, but I'm not exactly sure" he said helplessly.

A technology whiz Will was not.

"Okay, so, where does that put us as far as progress goes?" I asked.

"Well, we couldn't get it down to the exact location of the call, but we have narrowed it down to a small, specific sector on the easternmost side of the warehouse district. There are only about five buildings that we'd need to check out."

"Good. Great work. Now all I have to do is find the right one and clean the Bulls out of it. And in order to do that, I need sleep. See you guys in the morning." I got up from the table and climbed the two flights of stairs to my allotted bedroom, where I sat on my bed and flopped backward onto the mattress. I stared up at the ceiling and started talking to myself.

"Well, Sara, you've almost got this in the bag. Just got to wait for Raven to show up from wherever it is that she's hiding out and then it'll be basically done. The press will have a field day." 

Heaving a sigh, I sat up and looked around the room. The drawers of the bureau had clothes in them already and I rifled through them until I found a gray tank top and matching gray slacks. I held them out in front of me and wondered, How did they know my size? Is nothing sacred anymore?' I got ready for bed, undressing quickly in the semi-darkness and putting them on. As I turned back the covers of the bed, a figure appeared beside me. 

"Hey there, Pez."

I jumped and whirled around. The figure bounced backwards, even though he didn't have to; I could have gone straight through him.

"Danny! Jeez, you scared me. I'll never get used to your little disappearing-reappearing act."

"Sorry for the heart attack, Pez. I just came to check up on yousee how you were handling this."

"Well, I'm surviving. How I'm not sure, butDanny, did you know that Ian was my Guardian?"

"Well, yes and no."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" More cryptic shit? I had hoped we were past that by now.

"I didn't know that you would choose him, but I knew that he had the potential to become your Guardian. You seriously miss him, don't you?"

I nodded, although I'm sure that he knew that from the beginning. "Is he okay, Danny? Do you know, and if you do, can you tell me?"

"He's finewithin reason. Dante's smacked him around a little bit but only because he's chained down." 

My eyes widened. There had been chains in my dream. I didn't like where this was going. 

"I dare say that he'll get his once Ian isn't restrained anymore."

"I guess so. Look, I know you're probably going to tell me that there's nothing else you can tell me, butis there anything you can tell me? Like where Ian is?" Danny stayed silent. "Guess not."

"Sorry, Pez. You know the drill."

"Yeah, well. I wish you were here, partner. You would really be helpful in the physical realm. Now I'm just worried that you'll have to prepare a place for me over there."

"This side isn't ready for you, Pez." There was a gleam in his eyes. 

"What, meaning that it's not my time to die or that "the other side" isn't big enough to hold me?"

"Both," Danny said with a laugh. "But you might like to know that there's no coffee over here, just so you're prepared for a rough afterlife."

"You've got to be kidding. There's no coffee in paradise?"

"Sorry, Pez, but no. If I weren't already dead the withdrawal would be killing me. As it is it's just enough to annoy the hell out of me."

"Then I really don't want to end up over there yet. No offense."

"Trust me, none taken. But try and rest easy, Pez. I know that's a big demand, but you can trust Raven. You know that. She'll do all she can to help outif she and Mac don't kill each other first."

"You noticed that, too?" I inquired. "I have a feeling the fur will fly between those two. They're both so caught up in trying to keep me safe that a clash is highly likely."

"Well, you're an important personyou're the Wielder. And both of them were born to keep you safe. Get used to the overprotection; it probably won't be getting much better." 

"Oh, great. Just what I wanted to hear. At least Ian doesn't baby me," I said. When I caught Danny's Look, I added, "Much." 

He seemed to accept that. "At any rate, you've gotta sleep and I've gotta fly. So, bye for now, Pez. Don't worry; he's all right and I have no doubt that you and Raven working together will get him out of this mess."

"Thanks, partner. See ya," I said as he disappeared. I got into bed and turned out the light, falling into a solid sleep.

***

Mac was really making me nervous. She was very jumpy, pacing all around the large "living room" of the warehouse, and I was tempted to shake her to snap her out of the trance she was in as she paced. 

"Mac, just chill out. You're not going to help Sara by wearing a hole in the floor," I remarked, sinking into a large cozy leather chair.

"I suppose you're right, Gabe. It's justgrrrr! The thought of actually having to put up with that Raven womanit's just infuriating."

"Again, chill out. She'll be a big help. We'll get this mess over with, she'll leave and get out of your hair and then everything will be good again until the next group of crazy people comes after Sara. Or the Witchblade. Or even both."

"I guess. But that doesn't mean I'm going to like her. The nerve of her, calling me a fool, treating me like a child!" She took this opportunity to fume silently for a few minutes, and I made an unspoken plea to anyone who happened to be listening.

Good grief, please let this be over soon, for all of our sakes. If Mac keeps going on like this I might have to resign from this group. She's driving me insane! Just let this work out without any of the good guys dying. Maybe then I'll actually be able to make some moneyWonder if that last shrunken head sold for as much as I was hoping for?' Aloud I said, "Listen, it's getting late. Why don't we follow Sara's example and get some sleep? We can't function at all without rest and it wouldn't help Sara and Ian any if we fall asleep on the job."

She sighed heavily. "Yeah. You're right. Better turn in. Come on, let's go."

"Is that an invitation?" I asked teasingly, expecting a teasing response. 

"Do you want it to be?" She sounded serious. I wasn't expecting that. 

"Ummmm" I faltered, blushing. I couldn't think of a good answer to that. 

Mac grinned. "Maybe now's not the best time," she joked, and we headed upstairs together, separating at the stairs and taking rooms on either side of Sara's, careful not to disturb her sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Enjoy Chapter 19, and don't forget to review!

Chapter 19

I woke up at 10:00 the next morning to loud pounding on my door and shouting from the hallway.

"Chief? Hey, you gonna sleep all day? Come on, get up!" Gabe called, continuing to pound on the door.

I groaned and sat up. "Hold on a sec. Don't rush me. I'll be out in a minute."

I got out of bed, shivering and rubbing my bare arms because of the chill that had set in overnight, and staggered over to the bureau. I randomly selected a pair of jeans and a shirt, throwing my leather jacket on and zipping it up tightly. I pulled on my boots and then flung open the door. Gabe was still standing out in the hall, waiting for me. 

"Okay, so what was with the wake-up call?" I asked somewhat indignantly.

"Mac wanted to make sure that you were around when Raven showed up here. Probably to prevent bloodshed."

"Raven's or Mac's?"

"Who can tell?" Gabe asked with a wink. 

I nodded, understanding his point. Just a minor altercation between those two could escalate into an all-out telepathic war. Who would win? It was anyone's guess.

We went down only one flight of stairs to the small entrance room to the warehouse on ground level. Mac and Will were waiting for us.

"Raven said she'd be here in a few minutes," Mac stated flatly. I ignored her tone.

"How did you sleep, Sara? We didn't hear any disturbances last night," Will said.

"Pretty well. Well, at least until this maniac came up and tried to break my door down," I said, glaring at Gabriel. He shrugged with a sheepish look on his face.

"What, I couldn't let you sleep all day!" he said indignantly.

"Sara, lay off," Will said. I rolled my eyes. 

A loud knock broke the silence of the room.

"Well, guess it's showtime," I said. Will crossed over to the door and opened it. Raven Cole stood before us, looking exactly like she did the last time I saw her. I pushed the memory of her downfall out of my mind and welcomed her. 

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," I said. She smiled and stepped inside as Will closed the door behind her. 

"Hello, Sara. Mac. And this is Gabriel, correct? And William?" We all nodded. "Do you have a plan of action?"

"We were hoping you might be able to enlighten us," Will remarked.

"All rightI have an idea. Just give me a minute," Raven said, and she closed her eyes.

"What's she doing?" Gabe whispered.

"I don't knowjust wait and see," I whispered back. 

***

__

Dragon. Dragon, can you hear me?'

My head snapped up from my previous rest. My scenery hadn't changed, but I was sure that I had heard Raven in my head. But that wasn't possiblewas it?

__

Dragon?'

Birdie?'

Ah, there you are. How are you holding up? Do you know where you are?'

How can this be? I thought you were in a coma, Birdie.'

Nothing's forever, Dragon. Now listen to me. Is there any way that you can see your surroundings? Like through a window or something? We need clues so that we can locate you.'

I looked around and craned my neck to peer out the only close window. I spotted some surrounding warehouses and read the names on the walls to her in my mind.

__

All right, excellent. Can you describe the one you're in? We've got it narrowed down to five buildings, so they tell me.'

It's a very large one. This room has an upper floor to it and I have reason to believe that the entire building does as well. That's all I know. Oh, wait. I see a street sign, but I can't read all of it. I can see the letters C-U-M-Mand that's all. I'm sorry, but I was unconscious when they brought me here.'

Hmm. All right. Hopefully that will help us find you. Just hold on, Dragon. Oh, and by the way, there's someone here that will soon go mad if we don't find you, and that's incentive enough for anyone, considering how much damage she could do.'

Sara? Can I talk to her?' If only I could hear her voice

__

I'm so sorry, but she doesn't know how to project her thoughts quite yet. Do you want me to tell her something for you? Other than the obvious.'

What? What are you talking about?'

Ian.' I winced. She was using my given name. I was in for it now._ I can't believe that you still haven't told her how you feel about her.'_

I sighed. 

__

Well, don't worry, I'll let you do that. Anything else?'

tell her to be careful.'

Gotcha. See you soon, Dragon. Be ready to fight.'

Not a problem.'

***

Raven stood with her eyes closed for about five minutes. The three of us were too confused to speak, and Raven seemed to work better in silence, so we simply watched her. We felt kind of foolish just standing there staring at her until she startled us by abruptly opening his eyes and smiling. 

"What were you doing?" Gabe asked, speaking for all of us. 

"Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable? I don't want to make a poor impression on our guest. We'll relocate and then Raven can tell us the details," Will said. 

We agreed and went downstairs to what Gabe had dubbed "the living room." 

Raven looked around at the warehouse as we went through it and seemed to admire it. "Nice place you have here, William. It must have taken a long time to fix it up like this. Most hideouts aren't this nice."

"Well, actually, Mac is the mastermind behind all of this. I'm just a subordinate who just acts like he owns the place."

"Oh. Well. I have seen better headquarters," she said, ignoring Mac's venomous look. 

We all took seats in the living room and Raven began her story.

"I contacted Ian telepathically and spoke with him," she said. 

I opened my mouth to speak, but Raven cut me off. "He's fine, Sara. Could you turn down the volume a little, please? You think very loudly."

"You read my mind?" I asked. That was just slightly an invasion of privacy. I was right in what I'd thought before: nothing is sacred anymore. "What if I wasn't exactly open to that?"

"I didn't really have a choice. I wasn't reading your mind; I intercepted your broadcast. When people think strongly enough, others that can tune into thatchannel, if you will, can just hear it as it's being thought. We don't always have to put effort into how we use our powers. Oh, and don't worry, Sara. Your secret's safe with me. I knew that already, anyway."

"What the–?" 

"He asked me to tell you to be careful. He knows you well, and wants you to practice caution when entering this dangerous situation. That's about it," Raven said, ignoring my previous exclamation.

"Wasn't that maddening for you, Raven? Hearing all those projected thoughts as you grew up, I mean. It took me a long time to learn how to block them out," Mac said.

"That was never really a problem for me. I just was unable to control my gifts until Irons pushed me too far one day and the gate blocking my way burst open. Blocking unwelcome thoughts is a very simple skillI thought that even you would be able to handle it."

ouch. This could be bad,' I thought.

"Excuse me?" Mac asked.


	20. Chapter 20

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry, Ian's not free yet, but will be soon. The catfight beginsand ends. Hope you like it, and if you're reading this, Pix, tell me if I did this the way you might have imagined it. Please read and review!

Chapter 20

"You heard me, Mac. I knew coming into this that I had stronger powers but I was unaware of how great the difference was."

"How dare you?" Mac inquired. "You come in here under the pretext of trying to help Sara and the rest of us but all you do is continue to make trouble and berate me for things that were and still are out of my control! Who the hell do you think you are?"

"No one to be trifled with, I can guarantee that. Do you think you're a match for me?"

"Only one way to find out."

Raven and Mac stood up and moved out into some open space in the room. 

"Cut it out, you two. You guys are on the same side here; you're working toward the same goal. There's no reason to do this!" I said, trying to keep them apart. 

"Stay out of this, Sara."

"Who are you, Raven? And why this vendetta?" I asked.

"I'm another of your Guardians, Sara, of which you have many, and I am much more. And I always am the one that has to clean up the messes that this one makes, often ending in your death!" she exclaimed, pointing to Mac. "I shouldn't have to, because you aren't supposed to die that soon. Don't you think that I have a legitimate reason to be just a little bit pissed off?

"Sara, please, back off. This isn't your fight. This is between the Priestess and myself; may the best woman win."

"Cut it out, you two. If you're as important as you've both been telling me you are, it wouldn't be a good idea for you two to kill each other. This is ridiculous."

"Yes, ladies, please. This isn't the time or the place," Will inserted. 

"Both of you, stay out of this," Mac and Raven said simultaneously.

Will and I stood between them, trying to stop this absurd conflict and were quite surprised when they stepped around us. Identical glares save their color looked at and through us. Raven's right eye twitched, as did Mac's left eye, and before I could even breathe once more it seemed that an invisible force came struck me in the stomach and propelled me to the opposite wall, knocking me against the drywall. Will's impact came seconds later.

"Nice catch, Mr. Wall," I muttered. "What the hell?! What are you two playing at?"

"We can't have intervention from you right now, Sara," Mac said. "Now, Raven, where were we?"

"Forgive me, but I believe I was preparing to kick your negligent religious ass."

***

"My negligent ass? Where was your ass when we needed you? If you're such a righteous protector, why weren't you here when you could actually have been of some help?"

At Raven's barely controlled look, which made me feel like she was shooting daggers at me, I anchored my feet. Raven would definitely be a strong opponent, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was sick and tired of her lip and I intended to teach her a lesson. 

"Oh, I don't know, I was just deep in a coma, Andreanna!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Let's just get this over with."

"Fine by me." 

Raven glared at me and I knew what she was about to do. She tried to push me against the wall like we had done to Sara. I fought her attack with all the strength I had, but she kept gaining ground as I lost it, my feet sliding across the floor. I finally was able to concentrate all my energy in one place and with a quick rub of my necklace, was able to send Raven flying backward through the air. She crashed into a small sofa and landed with the loud sounds of splintering wood. She sprang up instantly and mentally lifted me off the ground, stranding me in the air. I struggled, flailing my arms and legs helplessly. Flinging my hand out towards her, I did the same thing to her, and we stayed like that until I ran out of energy and dropped Raven back to the floor. Raven's concentration was partly broken and the next thing we knew Sara had freed herself from the wall and the Witchblade was activated and pointed down at Raven's exposed throat, since Raven had landed on her back and hadn't yet moved. Raven was the one that had been holding Sara downuntil that moment at least.

"I have absolutely had it with your bickering! This isn't about you two and your petty differences that have accumulated over the past millennium! This is about a very important man's life, which may be over soon if you don't get it together!" she said, throwing furious glances between the two of us. "Now suck it up and we'll move on. Raven, put Mac down and tell us the rest of the information you found out from talking to Ian. If you don't, so help me, I'll use this thing, and I really don't want to. Keep that in mind. There's a fine line between pissed off and frantic and I think I've crossed it. So let's go."

***

With a blink of her eye, Raven dropped Mac (far from gingerly) back to the floor. I glared at her and she gave me an innocent "What?" expression in return with a shrug of her shoulders. They followed me back to the living area like a couple of chastised children, which in a sense they were. Will recovered his equilibrium after his previous attack and staggered over to where we were to listen to Raven's monologue, who was ever so slightly more nervous now that she knew I wouldn't hesitate to smack her around to prove a point.

"Ian told me some names of buildings that he could seeumm, Harrison Operations, Strauss Industries, and I think Almeda Incorporated. He also saw a part of a street sign starting with the letters C-U-M-M. I think that's everything he told me."

"All right, then. This is where I will take over. Come along," Will said, and we followed him into the heart of the Associates' control center. He sat down at one of the myriad of computers and pulled up a map of the city. He searched for the names of the corporations and the locations of the outposts in NYC.

"Aha! Here's the buildings owned by those companies Raven was told about: Harrison, Strauss, and Almeda, all on Cummings Avenue. And here—" Will said, zooming in close to another warehouse, "—is the largest warehouse on the street. Formerly operated by Vorschlag Industries but currently vacantabout 10 other companies owned it before Vorschlag bought it. People say it was jinxed. All the companies that have used it so far have gone bankruptexcept Vorschlag. They called it Perdition for a while. "

"That's got to be the one we're looking for. But I severely doubt that it's vacant. In fact, it's probably crawling with dirty cops right about nowWell, now that that's all settled, I believe I'm making a trip to that warehouse," I said a few moments later. "Any volunteers for the cavalry?"

Most of the heads in the room nodded. "We'll go in there with you," Will said, speaking for the others.

"Actually, I'd like it better if you'd follow me in after a few minutes. It'd be more dramatic," I said. And it'll give me a chance to get everything done without having to worry about anyone else,' I thought.

He nodded. "We'll give you two minutes before we move in."

"Great. Come on; let's get moving. I've been ready for this," I said, and the warehouse was a flurry of activity as we gathered weapons and supplies while we prepared for our ambush.


	21. Chapter 21

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hello, everyone! Sorry that I've been gone for a whileI seem to be doing that more often latelyoh, well. Sorry. Hopefully more will come soon! Read, enjoy, and review!

~DM ;)

Chapter 21

I got in the car with Will, Mac, Gabe, and Raven, and we led the 5-car caravan to Cummings Avenue. We stopped about half a block from the suspected building and they all looked at me.

"Are you sure about this?" Will asked me sternly. "There are always multiple ways of going about a situation."

"I don't think I've ever been more sure about anything in my life. I've been running long enough; it's time to take the fight to those bastards, and that's what I'm going to do. They deserve their comeuppance for messing with my friends and screwing up my life. So, if I come out immediately, we were wrong or they bailed on us. If not, follow the two-minute rule." 

I got out of the car before any of them could say something else to try and deter me from my objective. I jogged casually down the sidewalk, trying to seem normal even though there weren't many people milling around in that part of town. Careful not to alert anyone to my presence when I reached the building, I tried to get a good view of how much—or how little—security was in effect in the building. I slipped over to the window just enough to peer inside. A group of about 15 White Bulls were surrounding the room Ian was in. From what I could tell by his profile he seemed to be in relatively good shape, buthe was chained to a chair—just like in my dream.

God, please don't let this happen like it did in my dream. I just hope that I can take down all of these Bulls by myself,' I thought. Time for the direct approach.'

I ran around to the front of the building and slammed my palms into the thick wood of the huge front doors. They flew inward and slammed into the walls, making a slam that would rival the intensity of thunder.

"Hello, boys. Did you miss me?" I asked, looking at the shocked faces of my former colleagues. The Witchblade activated on my arm as shock turned to vicious tenacity and I had to dodge a few bullets as I tried to make my way through to the room Ian was in. "I guess not," I said, changing course. I began my mission with the help of the Witchblade, knocking out several as they approached me with quick hits to the jaw and skull. 

Another shot at me at close range as I approached the exit but I deflected all his bullets. He, a cop I recognized as Mike Lane, threw aside his spent weapon in disgust and nearly tripped over something on the floor. As he picked it up I could identify it. Ian's sword was clenched in his hand. I extended the sword of the Witchblade, inciting shock from Lane, and smiled evilly. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He struck at me in anger with his own blade but his routine was quite predictable. 

"Parry, parry, thrustgood! You're learning! Lunge, oh my, a variation!" I said as I blocked each of his attacks. 

Lane scowled and lunged again. The Witchblade was doing all the work, predicting his moves well ahead of time. "I don't want to kill you, Lane, and I won't if you stop this idiocy right now."

"Dante was right about you. You are a bitch, Pezzini! I didn't want to believe him, but it's obvious now that he knew what he was talking about."

"Wrong answer," I said, and actually fought back on my own, knocking Ian's sword from his hand and stabbing him in the gut. His eyes widened, and I yanked the sword from his flesh after a few seconds, withdrawing the bloodstained blade back into the gauntlet. 

"Sorry, Mike. Hope I don't catch you on the flip side; it'd be too warm for me down there. Give my regards to Dante when he joins you." I picked up Ian's sword, sheathed it, and moved on.

***

"It's been two minutes. Time for the cavalry to move in," Gabe announced as he glanced at his digital watch.

"Thank you, Father Time," Raven replied. Gabe shrugged sheepishly.

"We should never have agreed to this plan of Sara's," I said. "I just hope she's okay."

"Relax, Mac. Sara's a big girl. She'll be fine. Now we'd better go," Raven said.

"Have you two laid aside your differences?" Will asked sternly.

Raven and I exchanged looks. "For the time being," I said.

"We'll keep an eye out here and then join you inside. Make sure no reinforcements of theirs show up without you guys knowing about it, you know."

"Okay, that's fine. Come on, Mac. I think I know a moreclandestine way into the building," Raven said, and we got out of the car. Taking a similar approach to the one Sara chose, we jogged slowly down the sidewalk.

Once we reached the warehouse, Raven led me to its fire escape. "Ian has good ideas," she said with a smile, thinking about his typical building-entrance tactics. "This leads to the roof, and there are some skylights up there as well. I checked it out. I thought it might be nice if wedropped in on our friends the White Bulls?"

"Sounds like loads of fun. Lead the way." We scurried up the fire escape, hoping we weren't too late to help Sara and Ian.

***

I made my way through the winding corridors of the warehouse, trying to tune into whatever the Witchblade was trying to tell me so I could determine where it sensed Ian. At this point it was the best and most reliable tool I could use to find him. The halls were deserted, conveying to me that all the guards were concentrated in the front room and wherever the hell Ian happened to be chained up. 

Well, finally a piece of luck: no constant shooting. I should have jumped in through that damn window,' I thought as I ran through the halls, the Witchblade still a gauntlet on my arm. Would have saved me a lot of timebut it might have gotten me shot as soon as I came inthat wouldn't have been a plus. Oh, well, can't do anything about it at this point. Now, come on, you: tell me where he is.'


	22. Chapter 22

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Read and review! Hope you enjoy, and thanks to Pixie-Dust for help with the last chapter and chapters to come! ;)

~DM

Chapter 22

Almost as soon as I had told it to find Ian, the Witchblade was drawn to a door on my immediate right. I had to be careful not to slam into the wall in front of me because my arm froze as if it was stuck outside the door and the rest of my body kept going. I had reached the end of the hall. Once I regained my equilibrium, I noticed that the door was open and I stared inside. All that appeared to be in it was a chair, and chained to that chair was Ian.

Well, it's about time,' I told my counterpart. Warn me next time you put on the emergency brake.' The Witchblade just buzzed in response, probably meaning something to the effect of "I'm not making any promises." 

I stepped in slowly and looked around. It looked like the room was empty except for Ian, but I knew better than that. I'd taken two steps inside when bullets came at me from everywhere but the Witchblade blocked them all. Ian's head snapped up at the sounds.

"Sara!" he called.

"Be right with you!" I shouted with a grin and sprang into the room. The hidden cops continued to fire at me and I did a few fancy moves–including some I was unaware that I was capable of–to dodge them. A swarm of the cops came out of hiding and faced me. I fought them off pretty well, trying to ignore the fact that the room that I was in was the room from my dream.

***

Sara had finally found me. I breathed a sigh of relief and hoped that the fools guarding me wouldn't harm her. One of the aforementioned fools drew his gun and leveled it at me while Sara was temporarily distracted. 

"Do you have anything that you want to say before I kill you?" he sneered, loud enough for me to hear him over the gunfire and the bullets ricocheting off the Witchblade.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm going to get out of this chair and then you're going to die."

"Right. When pigs fly," the cop said.

Suddenly Sara kicked one of the clods in a rather sensitive area and he flew across the room, landing between my would-be executioner and myself. 

"Well, he's close enough," I said with a grin. I concentrated all of my energy into my arms and pulled with all my strength. The metal loops binding the chains to the chair shattered and I flew across the room at my attacker, disarming him and snapping his neck all in a matter of seconds. 

Sara made her way over to me and broke the chains that still hung off of me with the Witchblade's sword. Then our attention flew to the door, through which a large group of Associates burst and fanned out across the room, which kept the cops busy. 

I pulled Sara aside and behind a large stack of boxes, the only things in the room beside my chair and some scattered weapons. As soon as we were separated from the group, Sara threw her arms around me, keeping the blade away from me. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised but slowly returned the gesture.

"I believe someone's glad to see me," I said with a grin. Her grip tightened and she buried her face in my shoulder. 

"You can say that again," she said, her voice muffled. She pulled back a little and stared me straight in the eye. "I was afraid I wouldn't make it here in time. That the next time I saw you you'd be floating facedown somewhere. Ian, I–"

Something suddenly didn't feel right. I looked behind me and saw a sniper leveling his weapon at us.

"Down!" I shouted, and we dove to the floor as the bullet lodged in the wall right behind us. 

"Guess now isn't the time, huh?" Sara asked.

"Not the best one, no. We'll continue this later, but nowwe should get out of here."

"I can't! Not yet. I haven't found Dante yet and I'm not leaving until he's toast."

I sighed. "Well, I'll take the top floor and try to put the snipers out of commission so you won't have as much trouble. Justbe careful, Sara. You're really out in the open down here."

"I'll do what I can. Oh, by the way, I think this is yours," she said, taking off something strapped to her back. It was my sword.

"Might come in handy," she said with a wink. "No one'll miss it; it was just lying around."

We smiled and separated. I unsheathed my sword and took the stairs two at a time to reach the top floor. I was able to sneak up on several, breaking a neck here and there and slashing a few through the abdomen. I kept one eye out for trouble on the ground level while taking care of my business.

***

"Dante!" I called. "Where are you, you bastard? Are you really this cowardly, because it's hard to believe that someone as manly as yourself could be afraid of me," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on out here and face me!" I drew my gun, withdrawing the Witchblade for the time being and scanning the perimeter, still dodging the occasional ricocheting bullet.

Danny chose that moment to blink in. Well, it's not like he had anything to worry about. The bullets would go straight through him. Unfortunately I didn't get that luxury.

"It's not that I'm not glad to see you, Danny, but you've kind of caught me at a bad time," I said.

"Yeah, no kidding. So tall, dark, and dangerous is out?"

"Yep," I said, grinning. "Took me long enough, though."

"Don't kick yourself about it, Pez."

"Why not? It's my fault he got into this mess to begin with!"

"Not necessarily."

"Wha?" I asked, confused.

"Look, I don't want to do any wedge-driving here, especially when you two are getting along so well nowadays, but–"

"Danny, just spit it out. You undead types are so long-winded."

He smiled at that. "Pez, do you really think that Dante could have captured Ian if Ian hadn't wanted him to?"

That caught me off guard. I hadn't thought about that.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem kind of far-fetched. You're saying he let Dante get him?"

"Well, that was his plan. Not how it happened, but that was the plan."

"What the hell? As usual, Danny, your visit is raising as many questions as it's answering, if not more."

"They caught Ian off guard. He got knocked unconscious. He would have let them subdue him somehow–rope, chain, whatever–but he wasn't planning on one of Gabe's artifacts falling on his head."

"Remind me to maim Gabe," I muttered. 

Danny chuckled. "I make no promises," he said, and blinked out. 

***

"Bruno? It's Kenneth. How are things going on your side of town?" I asked, amused at his previous problems with carrying out this mission.

"Damn it, Irons, what is it with you and your timing? The bitch just showed up and she's annihilating my men! And if that wasn't bad enough, your experiment is helping her!" His voice was hard to understand because of all the gunfire in the background.

"You mean Ian? I thought you had him restrained!" I said angrily.

"He shattered the chains! I saw it with my own eyes! And then Petzini came up with some weird metal glove thing on her arm and started blocking bullets and they teamed up!"

"Well, they are warriors. What did you expect, Bruno?"

"I expected two corpses on the floor of this warehouse!"

"Oh. Well, you should have enlightened me on that. I would have been more than glad to correct your misguided beliefs."

"Bullshit, Irons. Now do you actually want something or do you just think it will be funny if I get killed while I'm talking to you on this damned cell phone?"

"Change of plans. Do whatever you have to do to get Ian and Ms. Pezzini restrained and bring them to my home."

"I thought you wanted her dead."

"I do. I just thought it would be better if I killed her myself. I doubt that you could handle it."

He mumbled incomprehensibly under his breath and finally said, "Fine. Just give me a little time. The bitch brought friends with her." He hung up on me.

I stared at my phone and leered at no one in particular. Within a few hours the Witchblade and Ian would be mine again, with Sara Pezzini safely out of the picture and buried six feet under the ground somewhere.


	23. Chapter 23

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

What you've all been waiting forMORE VIOLENCE!!!! Heheheenjoy! And this story is far from over, just in case you were worried. ;) I seem to make each of my longer than its predecessorweird. Well, anyway, please read and review! 

~DM

Chapter 23

Sara's search for Dante was going nowhere; it had proved fruitless so far. There was no sign of him although I knew he was there, watching her. I made my way around the balcony, taking care of anyone who was foolish enough to get in my way. Most of the cops upstairs had high-powered rifles as opposed to ordinary service revolvers; all of these rifles were now targeting Sara. 

And, naturally, Dante was one of those armed and on the stealth attack instead of facing Sara. I saw the laser sight of his rifle zoom across the room and come to rest on her unprotected back. She would be dead before she hit the ground if I did nothing. Of course, this would require a good deal of effort. Dante was on the other side of the balcony, and I would have no hope of reaching her to save her by running over there. I glanced around the room, searching for a way to get her out of this, and then I spotted something, giving me a crazy idea. A long chain hung, doubled over, from a metal loop anchored in the ceiling and reached to only a few feet above the ground. 

That's so crazy it just might work,' I thought with a grin. 

Moving quickly, I leapt over the waist-high railing and grabbed the chain with one hand, praying that it was secure enough to hold my weight. I swung down fast enough to dodge the bullets coming around from all sides, and I encircled Sara's waist with my free arm.

"What the hell?" Sara asked, extremely confused. Then she saw the tardy bullet bury itself in the concrete floor much like it would have buried itself in her back had I been any slower. Her eyes widened.

With Sara's added weight, we gathered momentum and were able to clear the rail directly opposite the one I had just leapt over. We landed in a crouched position, my arm still around her waist, and I systematically eliminated the shooters nearest us with a few quick shots from Sara's gun, which she had just pressed into my hand. Unfortunately Dante wasn't one of themhe must have skipped out once he saw that his shot didn't hit its target. 

Once I was done and the balcony was clear, Sara and I sat side by side, leaning back against the railing, breathing heavily.

"Damn, Ian," she said. "I didn't know you were Tarzan in another life!"

"That's not one of the ones I recall," I said slyly, "but it could be in there somewhere."

Sara punched me lightly in the arm. "Very funny. You're just a regular laugh riot this afternoon. Jeez. I get stuck with the wise guy assassin. Why in the world do I put up with you?"

"Because I'mcute?"

Sara laughed. I smiled. 

"Guess I can't deny that. Well, you saved my life tonight, Ian, as you have done many times before."

"As you did mine, and have before. I apologize for having to delay our conversation once more, but right now"

"Gotcha," Sara said. Both of us sprang up and she pegged a White Bull on the lower floor with a single shot to the head. When his colleagues returned fire, she grabbed me by the collar of my overcoat and yanked me down to the floor with her, avoiding the spray of bullets that lodged in the wall behind us. I blushed furiously as I landed on top of her.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, extremely embarrassed. I got off of her quickly, as though she had burned me, and offered her a hand. She accepted it and I was surprised by her lack of hesitation. She looked down to the mayhem unfolding below us.

"Shall we rejoin the fray?" I asked.

"Absolutely. It's about time we ended this."

I leapt up and grabbed the chain, sliding down to the ground floor. Sara was right on my heels, clutching the chain with her right hand, Witchblade activated, sending sparks raining down on the heads of the White Bulls. The Blade had obviously taken some form of control, because Sara's eyes flashed amber briefly and she grinned evilly.

"I'm baaack," she said, and I smiled. And if a threatening-looking woman with a gauntlet on her arm and this close to deranged wasn't scary enough, the bastards got a real surprise when the glass skylights over their heads imploded and two women suddenly fell inside, levitating on their way down.

"We just thought we'd drop in," Mac said, relishing the shocked stares she received from all around the room as she just stood in the middle of nothing. "I think we succeeded."

Raven's smile was a mile wide; she was reveling in the whole situation. "Looked like you two needed some help," she said, plummeting downward with speed that would rival that of a peregrine falcon and landing with a solid thump on the soles of her boots right beside me. "Wow, that was an adrenaline rush. Always wanted to do that. Well, anyway, nice to finally meet you boys. These odds are much fairer nowfor you. Now you won't feel as bad when we kick your asses."

"But yours aren't negligent, just dumb as hell," Mac added as she landed beside Sara. Raven nodded with a smile, remembering her earlier comments. Then all hell broke loose. Mac and Raven were knocking people over and breaking necks without even touching them and Sara and I took turns skewering Bulls with our respective swords. 

"Awww, Sara, you're fighting again," Raven said. 

"Raven, that's like saying, Sara, you're breathing again.' You know all I do is fight!" she shouted over the gunfire and clashing of swords. 

"You just can't play nice, can you?" Raven asked.

"Damn straight!"

Raven laughed at this, and I just shook my head.

***

"Mac! On your left!" Raven cried, and I whirled just in time to glare at a White Bull and send him slamming into a wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Do you think it's time to call for back-up yet?" I called to Raven, busy suspending a cop in midair and letting him hang there, arms and legs whipping around uselessly.

"I'd ask them," she said, meaning Sara and Ian but not taking her eyes off her quarry, "but they're occupied at this point." She finally tired with playing with her captive and dropped him about thirty feet, giving him a little help by teaming with gravity and pulling him down. He landed with a vicious splat. I cringed, but she was unfazed. "You cover themerect a shield around them if you have to. I'm going to check the hall, make sure no more of them are headed this way. I'll be back in a minute," she said, saying "them" with hatred. I nodded and watched the Wielder and her Guardian fight as one. Each anticipated the other's moves and proved to be very efficient in getting the job done. I kept an eye out for shooters on the balcony and smacked a couple of cops around when they came to close to me. 

Raven had only been gone for about ten minutes and we had killed all the cops in the room with us when she suddenly came flying backwards into the room. Raven had been pushed violently somehow, and she made a sickening thud as she hit the ground. Her face was bloody, as were her knuckles. This was no accidental push; she'd been ambushed and had fought back hard before getting slammed into the floor. Sara, Ian, and I all rushed over to her.


	24. Chapter 24

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry about the delay. Haven't had a lot of time on my hands lately. Please read and review, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 24! And, I know I never say this, but I don't own any of this save Mac and Will and other random people I made up. The original characters are TNT's or Top Cow's or whoever's, and Raven belongs to Pixie-Dust. Just borrowing! Hehehejust don't want to get sued. Enough with the rambling and on with the story!

~DM

Chapter 24

Raven was out cold. Ian and Sara tried to revive her while I scanned the room and looked out through the doorway into the hall. I looked over Sara's shoulder and spotted movement behind her. Ian apparently saw it, too. We both stared in some confusion. Sara turned around when she saw our blank stares and raised an eyebrow.

"Will? What are you doing here? I thought the plan said that you and Gabe were going to be guarding the perimeter. And where'd Gabe run off to this time?" she asked as I relaxed a bit.

"He's out in the car," Will said, reaching into his pocket. It was a habit of his and I didn't pay much attention until I noticed the bloody knuckles on his other hand. I glanced down at Raven's motionless form and saw corresponding marks on her face.

"Where did those come from?" I asked suspiciously, gesturing to his hand. He stiffened, hiding his free hand behind him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. Before I could clarify, Sara got our attention.

"Guys!" she said. I snapped away from Will and looked down at Raven, whose eyes were just barely slits. 

"Raven! Are you okay?" I asked, dropping to my knees and joining Sara and Ian in that position. 

***

"Sara" she whispered. "Behind youthings aren't as they appear. Wolf in sheep's clothingdeceiving youdon't trust him, Sara" she trailed off and tried to sit up. Ian wouldn't let her, however.

"Just stay put," he said, and she nodded reluctantly.

"Who? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Look out," she said more forcefully. "That's the asshole that threw me into the room!" 

We all whirled at the sound of a gun being cocked. Will was now holding a pistol out at arm's length, pointed at me, and he was flanked by a fresh group of White Bulls, as well as a few men in suits that I didn't recognize. 

Ian did, though. "Speakers," he muttered, hatred burning in his eyes. "Tell you later," he said as I shot him a quizzical look.

"What the hell are you playing at, Will?" I asked. "Put that thing down before you hurt yourself. And where the hell is Gabriel?" 

"Gabriel's in the car, like I said before. Unconscious, of course. He seemed to get the idea that he could stop me from leading my friends right to you once he found out I wasn't working with him."

Mac gasped. "Will? You've been playing us this whole time? I can't believe this—I trusted you, you bastard! Why on earth would you do this? Your father's ancestry was linked to a priest loyal to the Blade! Why give this up?"

"Raven was very correct in her assumptions earlier. You are a precocious young woman, but additionally you're very naïve. Appallingly so. Do you even perform background checks on your Associates? Because you must have overlooked my record. And blood doesn't count for as much these days as you seem to believe, Mac."

"I can't believe this," I said. "I was standing in your office, practically at your mercy, and you did nothing. You didn't kill meyou didn't even touch me. If you're so ruthless and mercenary, then why not?"

"Well, I probably should have, but I didn't know who you were exactly until you came out of my closet and I saw the Witchblade. By then it was too late to do anything but bring you to the Associates. Anyway, enough of the small talk, Wielder. You're cornered. And the fun's yet to begin." 

Will turned to face the doorway and in strode Dante, followed closely by his mindless subordinates. 

"Hello, William."

"Hello, Bruno."

"What's our plan of action?"

"You'll want to get rid of those two," Will said, pointing to Raven and Mac. "They're extremely dangerous. Possibly even more so than Pezzini."

Dante nodded and gestured to a few of the cops, who came after Mac. They grabbed her and restrained her, and the rest swarmed out all over the floor and pinned Raven to the floor, leaving just Ian and myself free. 

"Well, party's over, Ian. Guess we'll have to be the ones left at the end to clean it up," I said. He nodded. 

We stood there for a minute, then bolted up the stairs to the balcony when they opened fire on us, hearing the rapid pings of the rounds as they ricocheted harmlessly away from us. We dove to the floor of the balcony just in time to miss a wide spray of bullets.

"You know, Petzini, I would have pegged you as being a lot smarter than you're proving yourself to be. You leave two of your good friends to the mercy of armed men who would have no qualms in killing them and expect them to walk away? Bad assumption."

Ian and I raised ourselves up and crept closer to the railing so we could see what was going on below us. Dante was standing over Raven (who was being held face down on the cement and wasn't yet strong enough to free herself), his service revolver pointed at the back of her head. Will had rejoined the ranks, and Mac was beside herself with anger, yet she could do nothing about it.

"Do you really want to be responsible for another of your friends' deaths, Petzini? What about that Maria chick and Danny Woo? Names ring any bells?" Dante taunted. 

I squeezed my eye closed and gritted my teeth. Ian could obviously see my discomfort.

"Don't listen to him, Sara; he's just trying to make you do something you'll regret later," he whispered. I nodded.

"I've heard a lot about this one. Irons'll be surprised I was the one that put you away, Colethat is, if your "friend" doesn't trouble herself with you. Give it up, Petzini, and I'll let her go. The issue isn't with her."

"Don't do it, Sara," Ian said. "Raven won't want you to."

__

Leave it be, Sara. Don't worry about me. You're more important,' Raven told me. Ian gave me a look that said, See?' because he had also received Raven's message.

I was sick of having my friends sacrifice themselves for me and I was about to turn myself in to Dante when suddenly rapid, bright flashes of white light filled the room. Ian covered his eyes quickly with an arm and the cops below us were blinded.

"Strobes," he said. "Can't look at them or else I'll be incapacitated. One of the security mechanisms of the Black Dragon program," he explained.

"But why would someone install strobe lights in a warehouse?" I mused.

"With Vorschlag, anything's possible," Ian shrugged, eyes still covered. 

I squinted to see what was going on and the strobes stopped. The cops were clutching their eyes and Dante had dropped his gun out of Raven's range, bellowing orders to his lackeys who were completely unable to follow them. 

I nudged Ian. "Coast is clear." He uncovered his eyes, glanced around to make sure everything was as normal as it could be under these circumstances and we crept closer to the stairs, preparing for our final assault.

***

It had been surprisingly brilliant of me to think of installing strobe lights into the White Bulls' warehouse. And of course the lights were accompanied by a series of hidden cameras. I watched our target, Sara Pezzini, and the man that she had risked everything for run down the stairs and I got my first clear view of her arm. I was astounded to see that instead of a dainty bracelet resting on her wrist, a large and formidable looking gauntlet encased her right forearm. 

So this is why Kenneth wants her braceletand her. There's definitely more to all this than what Kenneth has been telling me.' 

I couldn't help but gape as I watched a long sword extend from the gauntlet and Sara and the black-clad man attacked the White Bulls and my scouts with surprising skill and speed. They practically fought as one. It was as if I was watching an action movie on television, not a live feed from a building in the same city in which I lived. I smirked at the strangeness of the situation and kept my eyes fixed on the screens in front of me. 

A knock on the closed door of my office shattered the silence. 

"Mr. Miller?" It was my receptionist Joyce.

"Yes?" I called without looking away from the feed, and Joyce entered my office.

"There are several calls for you that are rather urgent, Mr. Miller. Kenneth Irons is on Line 1, sounding very upset, and there's a man called Garcia on Line 2 that apparently wants to hire you to do a job for him. Do you want to take the calls?"

"I'm not worried about this Garcia character, considering I have plenty of business, and as for Ironsput him on hold. If I decide to answer the call, I will," I said, glancing back to the screens where Sara Pezzini had just thrust her sword through the stomach of a White Bull, the anger and malice on her face frightening. "But tell him that he shouldn't hold his breath," I said. "That will be all, Joyce. Thank you." 

Joyce nodded and left. My eyes returned to the screens and I couldn't tear them away, for not only was the incredibly beautiful Ms. Pezzini wreaking havoc on her enemies, but a friend of hers that could have been the twin sister of the black-clad man—what was his name again? Oh, right, Nottingham—captured my attention. She seemed so familiar, and yet I couldn't place her. Afraid to miss a second, I hardly blinked as I watched the carnage unfold. Ms. Pezzini was clearly not in a forgiving mood.


	25. Chapter 25

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hey, everyone! I'm back! I was on a roll and I wrote this entire chapter today. Thanks sooooo much to Pixie-Dust and Lizzigirl for their wonderful help on getting me unstuck. You guys rock! Please read and review; I'm so excited! I've got 100 reviews now! ;)

~DM

Chapter 25

"Damn! Why won't Jackson answer his phone?" I was furious at his defiance. Normally he would answer it on the first ring, but now I was stuck on hold with "elevator music" being piped into my ear. Finally, when it seemed like he would never answer and I was very close to pressing the OFF button on my phone, Jackson's voice came through the wire.

"Hello, Ken. What can I do for you?" His sarcasm was evident.

"Getting Sara Pezzini under my control comes to mind. Especially considering that's what I'm paying you to do!" I shouted.

"Easy, Ken. You're going to burst a blood vessel. I've got men working on it. Relax."

"Relax, he says. And how many of your men are still alive? If you have Sara, Ian Nottingham, Raven Cole, and Andreanna McPherson in the same location, chaos will most assuredly result, as well as severe bloodshed. I would be willing to bet that many of your men are no longer with us, considering they are fighting individuals with warrior blood."

"I've noticed," Jackson said. 

Not bothering to ask how, I said, "If Sara and Ian remain free, I can guarantee that they will be more trouble than they're worth to you."

"What about to you?"

"I have resources that will keep them under control," I said.

Jackson snorted with derision. "Nothing short of unconsciousness could keep that woman under control."

"Exactly. Jackson, I don't want to do this, but if you can't get the job done, I will have to turn elsewhere for my business matters. Keep that in mind." I hung up and stared into the fire roaring in the fireplace.

What is going through Jackson's head? Has he developed a rebellious streak?'

***

When I came to, my vision was blurry and it took a minute for me to figure out where I was. When I could finally figure it out, I realized I was in Will's car and then remembered what had happened. He had been instructing some White Bulls on what to do to capture the others. 

"Traitor," I growled at the memory and sat up slowly, groaning with the pain. "Hope I don't have a concussion." I reached up to my temple and felt a knot but thankfully no blood. One of the goons had hit me in the head with the butt of a rifle and I went down hard. 

"Great. Well, let's see if I can be of any help. Hope the guys are okayI shouldn't be too worried, considering the people I'm talking about here. Pity the guys who've tangled with Chief. And Ian will kick their asses if they look at her the wrong way. Time to get up off your ass, Gabe," I said. It was really stupid of Will to leave me in the passenger seat. If I were him, I would have put me in the trunkwait, did that make sense? "Spoke too soon about the concussion." I opened the passenger side door and was about to step out when I heard a soft ticking sound.

"Crap!" I shouted and leapt out of the car, sprinting away as the car bomb triggered by the passenger door exploded and showered flaming debris as I ran like hell for the warehouse. The gas tank ignited, triggering another explosion, and after that I didn't look back.

"Well, maybe Will's not as stupid as I thought," I said to myself as I ran into the alley beside the warehouse. I peered in the window when I reached it and then, acting on impulse, jumped through it. I didn't cut myself too badly and was proud of myself as I rolled across the floor, dodging the bullets. 

Mac took that opportunity to signal Raven, who nodded slightly. Her black eyes widened, her black eyebrows plunged, and that telltale twitch signaled something big. A second later everyone within a three feet radius of her went flying, and one guy even got stuck in the ceiling when she threw him up there. His legs dangled helplessly and everything. Raven got to her feet and was proud of herself. She looked up to the balcony and nodded to Sara and Ian. Simultaneously both of them leapt off the balcony and were stopped in midair three feet from the floor by Mac and Raven. Once their feet had hit the floor, Mac pulled a similar stunt that Raven had, making her captors fly in every direction. 

"I told you to get rid of those two!" Will yelled at Dante, who had been thrown into a pile of crates by Raven. "But no, you had to be nice." Dante scowled at him. Sara and Ian ran over to join Mac, Raven, and myself.

"Good to see that you're conscious, Gabe," Chief said. 

I grinned. "Didn't miss me too much, I see. Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah. Loads," Ian said, rolling his eyes. 

"We should do this more often. Seriously. It was fun," Raven said with a shrug.

"Well, this is all so touching, but I'm sick of the banter." Dante stood up and fired a tattooed bullet at Sara's head. She held the Witchblade up but it was unnecessary. Raven stared at it and it slowed down gradually, finally stopping two feet from Sara's head. 

"You guys should really keep better grips on your guns, considering how slippery they are," she said. 

"Especially since they're in the company of a few telepathically gifted individuals," Mac piped up. Raven nodded. Mac's and her eyes twitched, and the newly regrouped White Bulls were stunned to see their guns fly out of their hands and come to a halt in front of Mac. I was stunned to see Jake among the thugs that had just arrived, and Sara was as well. Raven plucked Dante's previously fired bullet out of the air from where it was still hanging and examined it carefully while Mac unloaded the ammo from the guns floating in front of them. She took one out and looked at it, much like Raven.

"I think this looks more like a horse than a bull. Or it could be a pony. What do you think, Raven?"

"I quite agree. You all are so manly, My Little Pony Menthat has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Sara and Ian looked like they were about to explode from trying not to laugh.

Dante and his colleagues were less than amused, though. Predictably, they attacked. Raven whipped out her sword, as did Ian and Sara (with help from the Witchblade), and they collided, Sara felling three with one stroke.

I'll just back up now,' I thought, watching as Mac broke several necks with her mind and Ian broke some with his hands. Sara broke out of the mob and faced Dante, pale white because of his anger at being dissed and his fear of the four people in front of him, especially his former subordinate. Despite that, he made a very bad decision.

"Well, it's finally you and me, Petzini. Too bad your dad's not here to see you take down the Bulls. You know, he was one of us. And he liked ituntil he suddenly grew a conscience and deluded himself into thinking he was going to stop us. He was wrong, and you are, too. You're nothing, Petzini, and neither was your father. I wish I'd been the one that killed him."

"Are you finished yet?" she asked.

"Why?"

Sara's eyes flashed amber and she grinned evilly. She shot forward and before Dante could even blink, she buried the Witchblade in his gut. He gasped and a small stream of blood trickled out from the corner of his mouth. "I just didn't want to interrupt the last ravings of a madman," she said. She roughly yanked the blade out of Dante's stomach and stood there, watching him die. 

The other White Bulls seemed to lose confidence now that their leader had been annihilated.

"Any other volunteers?" Sara asked. 

The very few survivors of the massacre stampeded towards the door. Mac chased after them and Raven was about to go as well but Sara put a hand on her arm.

"Let them go," Sara said tiredly. "They've had enough. And they'll probably all be in jail soon, anyway." 

"That's for sure," Mac said. She reentered the room with Will in tow, floating above the ground, struggling. "Caught this one on his way out. Apparently he thought he'd get off easy. I think he'll help you get some convictions. Won't you?" she asked, breaking one of his fingers with her mind. He screeched in pain and nodded helplessly. "Thought so."

"Hang on a sec. I need some payback for what this asshole did to me," I said. Mac grinned and nodded, holding him still. I took a few swings at Will and by the time I had finished, he was sporting the beginning of a shiner and undeniably a very bruised stomach. "Well, I feel better."

"We'd better drop this slimeball off at the precinct," Sara said, and the six of us finally left the warehouse. I noticed that Raven stopped for a moment before following us, looking through the entire room and glancing suspiciously at a specific corner. When she realized I was watching, she caught up with the rest of us.

Will ratted out the entire White Bull operation and investigators (who we were sure were clean) went out to start rounding people up. It turned out that Will had been the lawyer that had helped the Bulls out in cases where one of them had been really stupid and had actually gotten nailed for something. 

"Kiss your law license goodbye, buddy," I called as they hauled him off, and Raven, Mac, Ian, Sara, and I left the building.

"Hey, Pez."

Sara whirled around to see Jake coming up behind us. Sara narrowed her eyes and Ian suddenly appeared right behind her, an extremely menacing look on his face. I knew that look; he was wearing it when he came to visit me a long time ago at my place to tell me to back off on the Witchblade research. I didn't pity McCartey in the least.

"What the hell? What do you want?" she asked coldly. 

Jake winced. "I guess I deserve that. But it wasn't what it looked like!"

"Really? It looked an awful lot like you were a goddamned White Bull, Jake! I trusted you! Jesus. I don't know what else it could be."

Jake pulled out a badge and handed it to her. She looked at it, glanced at him, and then did a double take. 

"FBI?" she asked incredulously.

"Yep," he said. "I was UC to try and bring down the Bulls. Guess you beat me to it. And what was that sword thing you had?"

Sara opened her mouth but then Mac and Raven each took Sara by an arm and said, "Time to go" simultaneously. They dragged her to Ian's car, parked across the street, and Ian and I followed.

"Bye Jake!" I called, giving him a goofy wave and leaving him standing there on the sidewalk, head tilted to one side, really confused.


	26. Chapter 26

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry for the delayI say that way too much, don't I? Anyway, read and review Chapter 26. Hope you enjoy! The little ^^^ things mean dream sequence, just so you know, and the *** still means POV change. Hope I didn't get too longwinded and confusing. Any feedback would be a welcome sight!

Chapter 26

Saying that I had been unmoved by what I had seen in the warehouse would have been the biggest lie ever told by man. The scene that had unfolded on the screens before me had captured my attention and consequently I turned on my computer. Inspired by what I had witnessed, I attacked the Internet with vigor I never knew I had. I felt foolish for never thinking about researching Irons considering our long history of knowing each other. I was convinced that "Nottingham's twin," as I was referring to the mystery woman in my subconscious, was linked to Ken in some way, and if I knew Ken, it would most likely turn out to be a bizarre link. Wherever I found information on Kenneth, information on the woman was sure to follow.

I scanned Web pages and investigated through a myriad of search engines for what seemed like years but turned out to be only a few hours before I found a picture of the woman I had seen. Eagerly I clicked on it and to my delight a whole dossier of information popped up.

"Mr. Miller?"

"Yes, Joyce?" I asked, frustrated by her constant interruptions. Perhaps I should find a new receptionist with a lesser tendency to just pop in whenever she feels like itwithout knocking. "What is it now?"

"Giovanni is on line 1. He seems determined to speak with you about his latest assignment," she said.

"Thank you, Joyce. I'll take care of it." She left and I went back to my computer.

"Raven Cole," I murmured as I read. Why did that name seem so goddamn familiar to me?

***

"Guys, you can let go of me now!" I insisted, and Raven and Mac released my arms. "What was all that about?" I asked them.

"Mac thought you were going to spill about the Witchblade," Raven said, pointing at Mac with a completely (fake) innocent look on her face.

"And you did, too," I said.

"No! Of course not!" Raven said incredulously. 

I gave her one of my famous Looks. 

"Well, maybe that thought crossed my mind," she admitted.

"Chill, guys. I'm not entirely sure that I trust Jake yet. Seeing him part of the group that tried to kill me and my friends, even if he was UC, doesn't make me feel too comfortable, you know?" Raven and Mac nodded. We piled into Ian's car, which had miraculously been parked across the street from the precinct, and drove off. 

"Where are we headed?" Ian asked.

"Associates," Mac piped up from the backseat. "We should just lay low for a little while, rest upthat way we're ready if something else really weird shows up." Mac was on the left side of the car with Gabe between her and Raven. I was up front with Ian. 

"That sounds good," Raven said. "I need a nap."

We all shared a laugh. Raven wasn't the type to savor naps. 

"I need a shower," I remarked, continuing our confessions. 

"Bring on the chocolate," Mac commented.

"I haven't been online in 48 hours. I'm going through Web withdrawal." That was Gabe, of course.

"Your turn, Ian. What do you want?" Mac asked.

He colored a bit and said, "I shouldn't say."

"Oh, come on, Ian," I asked. "I'm curious."

He just shook his head.

"You're no fun, man. We all shared with the class," Gabe remarked.

"What I want isn't something asnormal as yours. Maybe one day you'll know what it is." Silence for a few moments, then

"Dragon, you naughty, naughty boy!" 

Raven had apparently read Ian's thoughts. Ian had a hard time staying in his lane. "That'sinteresting. Can't say I didn't see it coming, but" she trailed off and lapsed into giggles. Mac apparently was trying to access the confidential information but Ian had anticipated and by the look on Mac's face, she had been thwarted by prior knowledge.

"Come on, Raven, tell us!" Gabe pleaded. 

Ian glared at her in the rearview mirror and she shook her head. "It was wrong of me to pry, and it's none of your business." 

We pulled up to the Associates' warehouse a few minutes later and separated on the ground floor, Raven and I heading upstairs and the others heading down, all pursuing our individual desires. Raven was actually serious about the nap, and the two of us also parted ways once we reached the top floor. It was clear that we all needed a break.

***

I entered one of the spare bedrooms and locked the door, sitting on the bed with my legs crossed. I inhaled and exhaled slowly, calming myself down so I entered a meditative state and I sought out the person who had planted the camera in the White Bulls' warehouse. I had spotted it as we were leaving but could do nothing about it at that time. I had a feeling I knew who was behind it. 

"The Speakers' head honcho—what's his name? Oh, right, Miller. Jackson Miller. He was one of Irons's friends, the former hit man. Now where are you, buddy?"

I concentrated and formed a parallel plane like the one I used to contact Mac earlier. This time instead of a hospital room, the scene was set in Miller's office, a room I had entered once a long time ago when I was quite small. Irons happened to be actually doing something and not sitting on his ass all day as was his habit, and I also happened to be with him. I pictured Miller mentally, and then a second later I went into one of my trances.

^^^

I appeared in Miller's office, sitting on his desk, and he was asleep at his computer chair. He had been looking at a Web page, and I jumped from his desk and approached. Reading over his shoulder, I skimmed the content of the page and discovered it had information about myself on itthings that no one but that bastard Irons would know.

Great. Irons put me on the Internet.'

I kicked Miller's chair.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," I said loudly. He woke with a start and then jumped when he saw me.

"What the hell?" he said when he saw me. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry for inviting myself over on such short notice. It wasn't politebut you know what else isn't polite? Invading a girl's privacy," I remarked, nodding to his computer screen. 

He grinned sheepishly and closed the program. "Sorry about that. I just needed to find out a little information, that's all. I needed some answers and Irons isn't exactly the best source, if you know what I mean." 

"I know exactly what you mean, considering the man practically owned me for most of my childhood."

"Well, now that you're here, wherever here is, will you answer some questions for me?"

"Why should I tell you anything? I'm not so sure I should trust you. Especially since you were nearly involved in Sara Pezzini's—and my—death."

"Please, Ms. Cole. It seems I've begun to grow a conscience in the last few days, as illogical as that might sound coming from me, and for some bizarre reason I don't feel comfortable with killing a woman as special as this Sara appears to be."

"You are forgiven for your sinsalthough I am no member of the clergy, I have authority to forgive on behalf of the Blade. Now, what exactly did you want to know, Mr. Miller?" I knew that would shake him up a little.

"Lots of things, but how about we start with how the hell do you know my name? And what's going on?"

"This is a dream and reality all at once. You're actually asleep right now, as am I, but I'm telepathically gifted and I decided to come and see just what your intentions are. I know who you are because of my telepathic powers and because Irons brought me here once, long ago. I know Irons is paying you to harass Sara and probably harm her in some fashion, but what else is he wanting you to do?" 

"Wait, just hold on a second. You're telepathic? I don't know if I believe that."

"Believe what you wish, I don't really care," I said. Feeling particularly mischievous, I glared at his computer chair and made it lift off the ground and float in midair about six r seven feet off the ground. His eyes widened and I asked, "Is that proof enough?"

"Ample. What did you want to know?"

I smiled and set him down.

"Irons. What's his plan?"

"He wants her deadmay I call you Raven?"

"If you wish. And if I can call you Jackson."

He nodded, and I continued. "So he means to have her killed. I never would have guessed. He's finally gone off the deep end."

"Or kill her himself, if that's the only way he's able to accomplish it. He's even crazier than he used to be, I will definitely agree with that, and that's saying something. Why do you think he's crazy for wanting to kill Sara?"

"The bracelet on Sara's arm is called the Witchblade. You've seen some of what it can do while you were spying," I said, grinning at his indignant look, "but there are many gifts that it reveals only to its Wielder. Sara is the most recent in a long line of Wielders and is a very powerful one at that, perhaps the most powerful of all. As for Irons, he once tried to wear the Witchblade and it rejected him because he didn't deserve its power, leaving him even more greedy and ruthless than he was before, spending a lifetime craving to possess or control what he tasted only once."

"So you're saying that Irons is obsessed with a bracelet that he wore once. How old is the guy?" Jackson asked. 

So someone on the planet had actually been suspicious about Kenny's excessive lifespan.

"It's hard to say. In his 90's, I'd guess."

"He looks no more than 40!"

"On a good day. Sometimes he looks every bit of his age, but he has rather gruesome means of staying young. That's why I am surprised that he wants to actually kill Sara. He's tried to capture her, harass her, confuse her, reject her, and play many other mind games, but it's astounding that he's finally chosen to end her life especially when she can save his. I suppose that she isn't tractable enough for him," I mused. 

Miller looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "What the hell are you talking about? What gruesome means? And how could Sara save him?"

"I think I've told you enough for now, Jackson. You know enough about the Witchblade and its Wielder to get by for now. I can't help but wonder if you know more about this than you're letting on."

"What, me? I'm clueless."

"I know I've seen you before. The Witchblade weaves a web unbreakable, and everyone's part of it one way or another. I'll find out where you fit in," I said, and was about to end the encounter when Jackson asked me, "And where do you fit in, Raven?"

I smiled and said, "I am one of many that guard the Blade and its Wielder. Perhaps you will join my ranks, because I find it hard to believe that someone like you would choose to spend your life this way." I snapped my fingers and a split-second later I woke up, laying down on the bed in the Associates' warehouse.


	27. Chapter 27

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hello, everyone! I'm back! Sorry about the delay, but exams are coming up soon and the teachers are being relentless about the homework. I was just lucky to have today off from the work. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I worked really hard! ;) Please read and review!

~DM

Chapter 27

"Mr. Miller? Mr. Miller?" Joyce's voice came from what seemed like miles away. My eyelids felt heavier than lead but I was able to raise them after a few minutes. Joyce's distinctive features hovered over me. "Are you all right, sir?"

I looked around and discovered that I had fallen out of my chair and was sprawled out on the floor. I pushed myself up to a sitting position and nodded. "I'm fine, Joyce. Would you mind holding down the fort for a while? I need some fresh air, so I'm going to take a walk." I rose to my feet. Perhaps I'd run into Raven if I went in the right direction

"It's quite chilly outside," Joyce said, going to a closet and retrieving a jacket, handing it to me. "Stay out as long as you need to, sir. I'll keep things under control." I nodded and left my office. 

***

I was fuming over the phone call I had just received. The highest-ranking White Bull still alive after the massacre at the warehouse had phoned me and informed me of the damage done to the organization. I wasn't surprised that Sara had killed Dantehe had probably been running his mouth off again and had angered her and the Witchblade so much that the blade was compelled to bury itself in his abdomen. Now Rick Horace, the self-proclaimed new leader of the very few remaining White Bulls, was adamant in making a deal with the Speakers. He dared to challenge me? I owned him. Apparently he had no idea what I could do to him.

"We won't be able to bring down the bitch unless we have more manpower!" he had said. 

I told him, "I'll see what I can do. I'll call Jackson Miller and make him an offer he can't refuse." I was feeling particularly generous at that time.

Now I was about to pick up my phone to call Jackson when my receptionist buzzed in on the intercom and said, "Mr. Irons, there's a call for you on line 1 from Jackson Miller's office."

Well, speak of the devil,' I thought. "Put it through," I said aloud.

"Yes, sir." 

I picked up the phone but instead of hearing Jackson's voice, I heard a woman's.

"Hello, Mr. Irons." The voice had just a hint of a French accent.

"Ahh, Yvette Bertin. How are you? I haven't heard much from your end lately. Jackson must be keeping you busy. What ridiculous alias are you using this time? You neglected to tell me last time we spoke."

"Joyce Nelson," she said, probably shuddering at having to say it.

"How on earth did you come up with something thatcommon?"

"I stole it from the 47-year old woman whose name was really Joyce Nelson and was applying for this job, naturally. Lucky that I looked something like her."

"What happened to her?"

"She had a littleaccident."

I laughed. "Assisted by you, of course."

"Of course."

"Well, what do you have to report?"

"You mentioned that something might happen to Jackson if this Raven Cole character got a hold of him. He fell asleep by his computer and then fell out of his chair. I had to call him about twelve times to wake him up."

"Ahh, yes, the parallel plane. Raven became quite good at creating those. Why do you mention it?"

"Obviously she dragged him into one!" I could picture her rolling her eyes as she said it. I sat up straighter in my chair as I digested this information. "So I followed your instructions. The tracer was in the inside pocket of one of his jackets and I gave it to him just a few minutes ago. He said he was going for a walk. No doubt he's going to try and find Raven Cole."

"Damn! She must have realized his past significance," I said. "She was always too intuitive."

"What?" Yvette was lost.

"Stick to spying and covert operations, Yvette. And call the Speakers' Council. Parker Grant would no doubt be interested in what you have to say. He's been looking for a way to get rid of Jackson for years. Perhaps he will have some serviceable ideas."

"Excellent idea, Mr. Irons. I'll call and ask him."

"You do that. Let me know if there are any new developments."

"Yes, sir." We hung up and I sat back. So Jackson was on the move. I thought that he had more dedication to his work. I was surprised that Raven would be the one to entice him away from his chosen path and to his true destiny. But even if she succeeded at luring him in, her efforts would fail in the end. The stars would never allow it.

***

"Raven? Hey, Raven! Wake up!" Sara was calling me. I shook myself awake and staggered over to the door of the bedroom, unlocking and opening it. Sara stood there, freshly showered, hands on hips. 

"Good grief, Raven, you sleep like the dead! I've been beating on this door for almost twenty minutes. Mac and Gabe picked up some food. Pizza! Thought you might like someand by the way, it might be a good idea to brush your hair while you're up." She grinned as I stalked across to a mirror and gasped at my disheveled appearance. I grabbed a brush and attacked the tangles in my hair.

"Meet you downstairs," Sara said, but I barely heard her. I was busy with making myself look halfway decent. Thankfully I didn't have to do much. I just hoped that the imprint that one of the quilt's seams had left on my face would vanish by the time I got downstairs

***

I jogged down the stairs and grinned at Mac as I swept into the living room. A few of the Associates had set up the pizzas on a large table and everyone was making his or her way over to the fragrant pies, snagging a piece or two as they went by. 

"Someone's in a good mood," Gabe remarked.

"The best," I said. I took a bite of pizza. "For the first time ina long time, things are actually going right." 

Gabe winked at me and motioned to something with his eyes. I followed his gaze, which I discovered was focused on Ian. I rolled my eyes. 

"Will you ever give it a rest?" I asked. "You're pissing me off."

"Since when has that ever stopped me? Chief, you know it's there. We all do. You're the only one that refuses to see it."

"Gabe, you're joining the ranks of the ones that spew mumbo-jumbo and make my life very irritating. That habit could become very life-threatening if you continue."

"Okay, okay. Chill out. Just trying to push you in the right direction to achieve your happiness, that's all." He started to leave.

"Don't start pulling the kicked-puppy' routine, Gabe!" I called. He waved me off and left. I sat down at one of the tables and munched sullenly on pizza in solitude until Mac and Raven finally came in and joined me with slices of their own. 

"What's with Ian? Does he have a pizza phobia?" I asked Raven when she sat down.

"Come again?" she asked, taken aback.

"Does he not like pizza? Or is he just intimidated by this cluster of women?"

Raven looked thoughtful for a moment and then laughed. "A little of both, I think. We intimidate him—well, occasionally. But I'm not sure about the pizza thing. We never really experienced pizza while we were under Irons's care. Hell, we didn't experience a lot of things while we were under Irons's care."

"Did you two have any semblance of a childhood?" Mac asked between bites of pizza. 

"Not really. Ian and I were strictly supervised by tutors and staff and were rarely just allowed to be kids." She suddenly started laughing.

"What's funny about that? It just seems deranged that a man would stop two kids from having fun while they could," I said, eyebrow raised.

"No, it's not that. I just remember something that happened when Ian and I were about twelve."

"What? Tell us!" Mac and I were dying of curiosity.

"Ian would kill me if I told you."

"No he wouldn't. Besides, I'd just tell him I beat it out of you," I said with a wink.

"All right, all right. When we were starting our sword training, we were awful. I personally cut a huge slice in one of Irons's expensive Oriental rugs and one time when Ian was doing a kata, his hand slipped and he bopped himself in the face with the hilt of his katana! He had a shiner for a week! Both of these happened in the same week and Irons was furious!" 

The three of us howled with laughter. My mental pictures of Ian hitting himself in the head with a sword and Raven slitting a carpet were hilarious. 

When we calmed down a little, Mac said, "Well, while on the topic of humiliating men we know, Gabe told me something classic. 

"One time when he and Sly Marcus were living together, and Gabe had just gotten Talismaniac started, he got hold of an urn that held the remains of an Incan princess or something like that. Anyway, he had to go out of town for a few days because of a family problem and when he got back, he came home to the remnants of a wild party Sly had thrown while he was gone. Apparently Sly and his drunken friends had been scouring the apartment for sweets and they found the urn. They thought it was a cookie jar and they emptied it into the trash, the alcohol keeping them from understanding what they had just done. When Gabe found out he had a fit, because he had an offer for the urn and contents for two hundred grand."

"So what happened?" I asked. 

"Did he still sell it?" Raven wanted to know.

"Of course! He just filled up the urn with fireplace ashes and the sucker who bought it was never the wiser!" We all cracked up again and were gasping for breath when Ian and Gabe came in, causing us to burst out into helpless laughter as soon as we laid eyes on them. The boys exchanged puzzled and somewhat frightened looks and slowly backed out of the room, leaving us to our giggles.


	28. Chapter 28

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry it's taken me so long to post again. Hope all the time I spent on this has paid off and I hope you enjoy it! Please read and review!

Chapter 28

When we had finished our session of girl talk, I stood up and said to Mac and Sara, "I've really had fun swapping stories today, ladies, but I think I'm going to get some air, take a stroll. Anyone care to join me?" I prayed that they would say no.

"Well, this pizza is entirely too good to resist and considering how much food I haven't eaten in the past few days, I think I'll have to stay here and catch up," Sara said, diving right back into her current slice.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Pez. Plus, I'm wiped. I need some rest. I guess we'll just have to take a rain check, Raven," Mac replied.

I tried to hide my relief. "That's okay. Everyone's been through a lot lately and I don't blame you for wanting to stick around. I won't be out too late. See you girls later," I said and jogged up the stairs to ground level and left the warehouse. 

I concentrated as I walked, hands stuffed into the pockets of my long black coat, and tried to find Jackson Miller. We needed to have a talk about a very important subject. I picked up a signal that matched his brainwave pattern coming from a specific street downtown and decided to pay a call.

***

I took a deep breath as I left my office, glad to be out of that claustrophobic chamber. It wasn't too cold outside, but nevertheless I decided not to take off the jacket Joyce had given me earlier. Without knowing where I was headed, I walked about the city in a daze. What was I thinking? Was I expecting Raven to just appear whenever I wanted to see her? And what did she mean by spewing all that shit about the Witchblade controlling people's destiny? It was just a bracelet, for Christ's sake.

Well, maybe not,' I countered. It was special in some ways, seeing as it could protect its Wielder in so many ways, but saying it manipulated lives was a little far-fetched.

"I guess I'll just have to convince you, then, Jackson." Raven appeared standing right next to me. I jumped and whirled on her.

"Damn, do you have a tracker on me or something?" I asked.

Raven tapped her temple. "I don't need a tracker, remember? Have you forgotten our discussionand your ride in the chair?"

"That didn't really happen! It was a bizarre dream that had nothing to do with any of this!"

"Jackson, you're trying my patience! You are part of the Blade's master plan whether you like it or not, and because of this and the fact that you refuse to believe what I'm telling you, I'm going to do something drastic."

"Oh, really? What would that be?"

"I've decided to risk unleashing the wrath of the Guardian by taking you to see the Wielder."

I blinked several times in rapid succession before saying, "What? You're taking me to see the Wielder? I'm one of the guys that was trying to kill her for a while there, and that's not something to be proud of. Hell, the last guy that was in that position is lying on the floor of a downtown warehouse right now in a pool of his own blood with a hole through his stomach! Not exactly a promising future! And you're asking me to go into the lion's den without anything to distract the hungry lioness except my lovely hide? Not bloody likely!"

"Trust me, Jackson. Something's telling me that you're not really the way you appear, that you're not—"

"Stupid?"

"—Well, "misguided" was the word I was thinking of. Anyway, you deserve a second chance. No doubt the Witchblade will tell Sara where you fit into all this."

"You really shouldn't concern yourself about me, Raven. I'm definitely not worth your time. I've always been a nobody, born in Chicago to a poor Jane and a John with big connections to the Mob. I've been a criminal since I was five, stealing candy from stores, and I've worked my way up to a hired hit man who could name his price and get it without question. Crime's ingrained in me, and I don't know if anything short of a miracle can change that."

"I pick my own friends, Miller. And my hunches are rarely wrong. I think I'm doing the right thing, on the right track, and don't worryI won't let anyone kill you unless you do something stupid. Now, to find out where you fit into this crazy, screwed-up world." She took a piece of black cloth out of her pocket and before I could react, she tied it around my head. 

"What the—?" I sputtered.

"Even though I trust you and I'm going to take a lot of risks on you, I'm not going to risk giving away the location of the Associates' hideout without being one hundred percent sure of what I'm getting intono offense."

"Right. Sure. Just don't let me walk off the curb and get run over by an Arab driving a taxi in this crazy town."

***

"So, Pez, whatcha up to tonight?" Mac eagerly asked me as we finished up with dinner and started cleaning up.

"I believe I need to have a bit of a tete-a-tete with a male friend of mine. And you?" I returned as I picked up an empty pizza box and tossed it in the trash. 

"Same. Neither of us are very well established in the field of romance, are we, Pez?"

"Our love lives definitely leave something to be desired.

"Yeah, like love."

"Even so, you're better off than I am."

Mac laughed. "Not even. Gabe doesn't risk everything for me. He doesn't sit out on my fire escape every night and make sure I'm okay. There's a lot of things he doesn't do. The only thing he's done was kiss me, and even then we weren't alone," she said, looking at me.

I colored a bit, remembering that scene, but said, "That doesn't mean he doesn't care about you."

She sighed. "Yeah, I know. But you're a lucky girl, Pez. Anyone with half a brain can see how much Ian cares about you just by looking at him. His gaze is never fixed on anything but you if he's in the same room with you. He puts you first and him second—"

"—which is what scares me," I interrupted. "I'm afraid that I'm going to lose him because he's going to always put himself between danger and me, and one day he won't be fast enough to dodge the bullet aimed at me."

I paused for a moment, then continued. "I've never had a real, strong, lasting relationship before where I can look in the man's eyes and not see anything else around mewhere he becomes my universe. I've never felt completely at ease and totally safe when I'm in a man's company, except my father, and now when I am starting to believe that I've finally found that someone, all signs point to an unhappy ending." I sighed. "I just want to have someone that won't die before I do." 

Mac nodded. "I think you'll find him, Pez. In fact, I think you already have. And I also think that you should talk to him about it and seal the deal. You two deserve happiness, considering all you've been through, and I'll be damned if I won't do whatever you need me to do to make sure it happens."

"Thanks, Mac," I said. "I'll go see what he's up to."


	29. Chapter 29

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Again, sorry about the delay, but I have had very little time to write lately and will have even less for the next week. Final exams are coming up and so I'll have to study, study, study! Wish me luck! So hopefully this will satisfy all your cravings for more DZ for a little while. If I have a chance to write and post, I will, but if not, my first certain free day is May 26th. Please read, review, and enjoy! ;)

~DM

Chapter 29

Being the domestically challenged person that I was, I left Mac to take care of the clean up effort and went to find Ian. I roamed through the warehouse and ran into Gabe on the main computer room. 

"Hey, where'd Ian go? You were just with him, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I think he went upstairs. Can't tell you where but he's around here somewhere."

"Well, thanks, Gabe. You were a real cornucopia of information, there, you know? I appreciate all your valuable help," I replied sarcastically and took to the stairs, climbing them two at a time. I made it to ground level and then looked around the room, checking the corners and shadows. Ian wasn't there.

"Damn," I said. "Guess I'll have to check upstairs."

There were a lot of bedrooms on the top floor of the warehouse, about ten or eleven of them, but they were rarely used. I had no idea which one he was in, and the shower in my own room was calling me, making the choices rattle through my head. Ianshower. ShowerIan. 

Why not both?' a little voice asked in my head and it took everything I had not to scream at myself. I shook my head to clear it of those thoughts. Stupid mind's trekking straight through the gutter again,' I admonished myself. What brought that on?'

Going against what I really wanted to do, I decided that the shower would be the best course of action to take first and headed for my bedroom. I stripped down in the bathroom and showered quickly, relishing the feel of the hot water on my skin. I calmed down while I was under the warm sprays and wrapped a towel around myself when I got out seven minutes later. I had decided not to wash my hair since it would slow me down in my search, but it turned out my search had to go no farther because Ian was already standing in my doorway. 

We both gasped when we saw each other and Ian whirled around to face the other direction because of my current state of undress. Thank God I had been wearing the towel and hadn't flashed him. He wouldn't look me in the face for a month.

"Um, hi, Ian. I was about to come looking for you," I said, trying to break the tension in the room. "What's going on?" I scrambled around to find clothes while I waited for his response.

But before he spoke, Mac happened to walk by my room, probably directed there by Gabe, and peeked in. Her face could have been described as mischievous at best and downright wicked at worst. "Having fun, you two?" she asked. 

Ian and I both blushed.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Mac asked innocently, glancing at me in my towel. 

Great timing, Pezzini,' I thought to myself.

"Not exactly," I said too quickly.

"No," Ian said, speaking at the same time I had.

"When you say not exactly,' Pez, do you mean something other than no'?" Mac asked evilly. 

I glared at her. "I am trying to get dressed here, Mac! Would you mind leaving?"

"Oh, so it's okay if Ian stays?"

"OUT!!!" I shouted, and Mac scurried away. "It's okay, Ian, since you're facing the other direction, anyway. So, was there something you wanted to tell me?" I asked as I resumed my hunt for clothes.

"Yes, there was. Raven contacted me a few minutes ago and said she was bringing a friend over to the warehouseperhaps a new recruit or something to that effect. Gabriel said that you were looking for me earlier, so I came to find you." He was clearly nervous. 

In record time I put on my clothes (underwear, jeans, blue ribbed turtleneck, leather jacket) and sat down on the bed to put my boots on. "It's safe to look now, Ian. I promise."

Hesitantly Ian looked over his shoulder, then slowly turned to face me. The relief was clear on his face. I smiled, and he returned it slightly. I crossed the room and we walked down the stairs together. 

"So, new guy. What did Raven say about him?" I asked as my hand grasped the banister.

"Not much. She just told me not to kill him as soon I saw him."

"Well, now that's a good omen. You don't typically kill people when you first see them, do you?"

"Not unless I know they're a threat to meor to you. Again, not a good sign."

"Does Mac know about this?"

"Most likely not. Raven isn't exactly one to clear her actions with everyone before doing something, as I'm sure you've noticed. She probably just thought I needed to know. No doubt it's someone I'll recognize."

"Well, we'll find out in a minute," I replied as we descended the second flight of stairs and entered the living room. "Mac should really install an elevator in here; all these stairs are getting annoying."

***

I had been mortified when I loitered in Sara's doorway long enough to see her walk out of her bathroom clad only in a towel. What frightened me most wasn't the fact that I had walked in on her, but that part of me wanted to see her without the towel. I had whirled around not only to give her privacy but also to keep that side of myself from taking me over and destroying the fragile relationship (if you could call it that) that I had with Sara. My mind was full of contradictions: I wanted to be close to her and yet I shied away at the very thought; I wanted to be bold and make a move but at the same time wanted everything to stay "normal"how was that possible? I mulled over my thoughts until Sara's voice broke through the fog in my mind and we talked for a few minutes before leaving her room. 

Reaching the main room downstairs, we could hear Raven and Mac arguing. Sara rolled her eyes and sighed as we entered the room. I was shocked at what I saw: Raven was standing beside Jackson Miller, the leader of the Speakers, and was apparently defending him from Mac's accusations, whatever they happened to be. Sara cleared her throat to announce her presence and the trio turned to face us. Miller's face paled when he recognized me and I moved slightly in front of Sara.

"Birdie, explain yourself! What is this villain doing here?" I asked angrily. "What are you thinking?"

"Exactly what I want to know," Mac replied, fixing a glare on Raven.

"Whoa, wait a minute, time out," Sara said, placing a hand on my arm to calm me down. "I must be really out of the loop here, because—you know, it's funny—I seem to be the only person in the room that doesn't know who the hell you are, sir."

"That, Sara," I said, "is Jackson Miller, and he's probably the last person that we should willingly allow inside this compound other than Kenneth Irons."

"Wha?" Sara was puzzled. Raven opened her mouth to speak, probably ready with some odd explanation, but Mac beat her to the punch.

"He's the guy in charge of the Speakers!" Mac blurted. Sara's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger all in the span of seconds. The Witchblade activated on her mental command. Raven glanced at me, sending a message as she did so.

Stop her, Dragon! She's going to kill him!'

And I fail to see how that would be a bad thing,' I retorted. This man is a cold-blooded killer, Birdie! How can you not see that?'

Sara stopped of her own accord about six inches from a terrified Miller. Raven and I reverted to oral speech.

"I see that and I understand where you're coming from, Ian, but there's something you're overlooking. The Speakers could have killed Sara at any time they wanted when she was in their sights and they didn't on Jackson's orders. He had a gut feeling that trusting Irons in this case was probably the wrong choice."

"So? Just because he didn't trust Irons doesn't make him a rocket scientist. And I'm sure "gut feelings" haven't stopped him from killing before," I said.

"I admit I've made some mistakes in the past, and there's nothing I can do about them now, but I saw what happened earlier at the Bulls' warehouse downtown and I want to help."

"Oh, so now the big bad hit man turns over a new leaf?" Sara asked. She reached out and grabbed Miller by the collar of his jacket, their faces two inches apart. "I've got news for you, buddy: you really picked the wrong woman to screw around with. Hope you've got life insurance." Sara extended the blade from the gauntlet and was about to dismember the bastard when Raven intervened, separating Sara and Miller mentally and twisting Sara's Witchblade arm behind her back using the same method. 

"What the hell are you trying to pull, Raven? Let go of me right now or so help me Miller won't be the only one in pieces at the end of this!" Sara shouted, and Mac and I ran to her rescue. I hated to do it, but I slapped Raven smartly across the face, sending her reeling backwards and freeing Sara by breaking Raven's concentration. Mac restrained Raven and I looked her in the eye.

"Snap out of it, Raven!" I said. "You're putting all of us in jeopardy!"

"Sara," Raven gasped, "use the Witchblade and see if I'm wrong when I say that Jackson's one of us, one of the people that surround the blade no matter what time period it's in."

Sara faced me. "Ian? Should I?"

"Go ahead," I said as I grabbed hold of Miller and secured him for the experiment.

Sara retracted the Blade back to bracelet form and, after briefly steeling herself for the onslaught, placed her bare hands on either side of Miller's face.


	30. Chapter 30

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry about the delay, but EXAMS ARE OVER NOW!!!! YAY!!! I'M FREE!!!! Sorry, just had to get that out. Anyway, hopefully posts will come more often as I try to wrap this one up. Don't worry, there will be a sequel. This is gonna be a long series! Love you guys, and please review! Thanks to Pixie-Dust for all your help and also thanks to Spin for your friendship and hopefully help yet to come! You two are great!

~DM ;)

Chapter 30

Continuing the tradition of what typically happened when the Witchblade was involved, the lines defining the conscious and subconscious blurred dramatically and I was sucked into a series of visions. 

Raven had been correct in her belief that Jackson had some ever-existing role in the Witchblade's plans. He was present in many Wielder's lives as various and sundry characters but had played his most important role in the life of Cleopatra when he sacrificed himself for her as the leader of her guards. The violence of his death in that life snapped back to reality and I looked Jackson in the eye, wondering how a man like that version of him had been could be a cold-blooded killer and also wondering if he had seen what I had.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

Apparently he had.

"That's a peek into what I see every day," I remarked. "Welcome backSeth."

"What did you see, Sara?" Mac asked.

"I think we should sit down," I said, and the five of us took seats on the living room furniture.

"Jackson's one of us, one of the recurring characters whose life is controlled by the Blade," I said. "He sacrificed himself for Cleopatra. Do you remember why, Jackson?"

He thought a moment, then answered. "I was one of her guards," he began, "and because of this I heard of a plot that some of the guards had created to murder the queen so her brother could claim the throne he thought was rightfully his. The attempt was made at a public address, where it wasn't unusual for Cleopatra to be surrounded by her guards. They came at her with swords and I was faster than the Witchblade. They struck me, killing me instead of her, and then she and another woman quelled the riot."

"The other woman was me," Raven said. "I was Seth's lover Tamara, one of Cleopatra's highest servants, coming from a long line of warriors. I went on a rampage against the guards who had killed Seth and helped clean up the mess." She stopped for a moment. "So I guess this means that I was right, huh?" 

"Guess so," I replied.

Raven looked pointedly at Ian. "I can't believe that you doubted me, brother. I suppose that your trust in me was one of many things that Irons was able to steal awayor did you ever trust me to begin with?"

"Of course I trust you! But I did question your motives. It seemed dangerous to let you continue in that fashion. Raven, you could have seriously hurt someone, most importantly the woman you are sworn to protect!"

"Then why didn't you question her motives?" Raven asked, glaring at me. 

"She saw Jackson as a threat!"

"He was unarmed!"

"She had no way of knowing that! For all she knew he had entered this place under a false pretext and was planning to kill us!"

"I pity you for your skepticism, since that's all your mistrust had given you. Have you never wondered why you remain in solitude? You doubt everything and never give anything—or anyone—a chance. I'm just sorry we—Sara, the Associates, and I—ever thought we could rely on you." Raven's eyes were clouded with sadness and rage. She stormed away and headed for the stairs. 

Ian wanted to go after her but took two steps and stopped. He turned around and looked at me. I met his eyes and I knew that her words had cut him deeply. Raven was like his sister, and he must have been overcome with guilt for what he had done. I moved toward him but he ran for the stairs as well. He needed to be alone. Jackson, Mac, and I all exchanged looks and I sighed. Gabriel, having heard the scene from another part of the room, approached our dejected group.

"Dissention in the ranks," Gabe murmured. "Damn."

***

I answered the phone on the first ring, knowing who was on the other line immediately.

"Hello, Yvette."

"Mr. Irons! How did you know it was me?" She seemed extremely surprised that I had anticipated her call.

"I make it my business to know. What is the latest development in your surveillance?"

"The tracer's signal has been coming from one stationary location for ninety minutes now: a privately owned warehouse on the outskirts of town. He's either currently there or he shed the jacket for some reason."

"Excellent. What is your next move?"

"Well, presumably he is with Raven Cole, Sara Pezzini, or perhaps both. Therefore, I just called Parker Grant and he has dispatched a squad over there to clean house."

"Have you assumed thethrone, as it were, of the Speakers dynasty?" I asked.

"In a manner of speaking. Parker and I will share the responsibility."

"Well, I won't get involved in the internal affairs of the organization. You will have to see that that works out well. All I want is your success, that the Wielder and her friends are either killed or brought to me. You can do what you like with the rest of them but I actually would prefer Sara to be alive and kicking when I see her nextso I can kill her myself."

"As you wish, Mr. Irons. Our first plan of action is already underway. I'll keep you updated on the latest news."

"I appreciate that."

"Goodbye, Mr. Irons."

We hung up and I turned to the fire roaring in my fireplace. Soon the Witchblade would be mineand Sara Pezzini would be a distant, faded memory.

***

"What was he thinking?" I asked myself as I stood on the roof of the warehouse. "I mean, come on, did he think I hadn't analyzed the situation? That I would actually put the Wielder in danger? Jesus! I'm not that stupid!" I kicked a rock off the edge of the building and watched it plummet to the ground below. "Oooooh, he makes me so mad! Damn it, he loves her! I know it, he knows it, and hell, even she knows it! Yet no one makes a goddamn move! That was probably part of it, that I stopped her from shish-ka-bobbing Jackson by twisting her arm a little. I'll be relieved when those two finally come to terms with their feelings, the strains of romantic music start playing, and everyone lives happily ever after so I don't have to deal with all this emotional crap." 

I folded my arms in a defiant stance, then relented a moment later. "I was too hard on himbut he deserved it! I'm telling the truth; he is too skeptical about most things. And he's deliberately not letting himself be happy because for some reason he refuses to even consider the fact that he deserves it. I don't see how the lives of those of us who serve the Witchblade could get any more screwed up."

I glanced off the edge of the building to see a group of about twenty heavily armed men heading straight for the warehouse that I happened to be standing on top of.

"I spoke too soon. These guys could definitely screw us up more than we are already. Guess I'd better do something about it before something else bad happens and I end up getting slapped again."


	31. Chapter 31

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Sorry about the delay! I've been on vacation, but I'm home now, so here's an extra long chapter of Danger Zone! I was on a roll, so I just kept going until there was a good cliffhanger! Well, maybe not a really good one, but you guys will probably be groaning about it anyway, so) Just kidding! Anyway, enjoy super-long Chapter 31 and please review! Love you guys! More to come soon, and I think the next chapter will be the last, but there is a sequel in the works!

~DM

Chapter 31

I scanned the scenery around me, looking for something to try and slow down the Speakers with. Unfortunately there wasn't a very diverse selection to pick from. The Speakers were harder to see now in the dusk, but I could tell they were walking down the sidewalk, directly under the path of a series of telephone poles. I glanced upward and with delight spotted a transformer directly over their heads.

why not start things off with a bang?' I thought wickedly, and stared hard at the metal drum, picturing a spark triggering a spectacular explosion. Seconds later the spark detonated it and showered the troop briefly with hot oil and debris. I stifled a laugh at their horrified and surprised reactions.

That'll slow them down a little. Guess I'd better go warn the cavalry.'

***

The power snapped off inside the building without warning. Someone climbed the stairs from the lowest level. Hoping to see Sara, I turned my head and looked around. To my slight disappointment, Mac was the one that came over to where I was sitting, holding a candle.

"Back-up generators should start up in a few minutes," she said. "I think a transformer blew."

I nodded, saying nothing.

Mac plopped down next to me and looked me in the eye. "Guess Raven's tirade cut pretty deep, huh?"

I nodded.

"I don't see how you can put up with her."

"She's a good person, and an excellent warrior. But she is rash in her speech sometimes and she tends to act without thinking."

"You can say that again. But at least she's on our side. Sounds kind of like someone else I know" she mused.

"It's true that we would be at a great disadvantage if Raven was allied with our enemies."

"I agree. Well, you shouldn't be sitting up here all by yourself, Ian. Sara's concerned about you. You know how rough she's had it lately; it would be nice if you would go down and let her know that you're all right."

"Yes, she has been through a lot. The Speakers and White Bulls' combined efforts must have shaken her up considerably."

Mac looked a bit uncomfortable. "That wasn't exactly what I meant, Ian. I mean, sure, that's part of it, but what I was really talking about was when you got captured."

"That caused Sara distress?"

"Are you kidding? I almost had to tie her down to keep her here! Ask anyoneRaven, Gabe, or any of the Associates. Sara was bound and determined to jump in single-handedly to bust you out of that warehouse until we convinced her that getting herself killed wouldn't do you very much good. And" Mac trailed off, clearly not wanting to continue. I pushed anyway.

"And what?"

"WellSara was really tired and she took a nap, but that's not the point. She had a dream before we left here to find you. I don't know what it was about exactly, but she woke up screaming bloody murder and she curled up into a little ball. That's enough to convince me to go double or nothing that it had something to do with youand probably your death."

I was speechless for a moment. I had had no idea that Sara would be that concerned. If I had, I would never have surrendered myself to the enemy to begin with, if that was in fact what I did.

"Mac, if I tell you something, will you swear not to repeat it?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Meaning you can't reveal it even to Sara?"

Mac frowned but nodded again. "I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable with keeping something from Sara, but go ahead, Ian."

I took a deep breath and continued. "My capture was not an accident."

Mac's hands flew to her mouth. "What?"

"I planned on getting captured. We were making no progress finding where the White Bulls were hiding out and so someone had to make a move. Please don't tell SaraI don't know how she would respond in light of this new evidence."

Mac nodded reluctantly. "But you two need to talkbig time. We're all getting pretty sick of all this I-love-you-and-everyone-knows-it-but-I-can't-tell-you-that-because-it's-just-not-the-right-time' business. It's seriously old."

I smiled at the way she put this. "I have every intention of doing so, Mac. I wouldn't worry about it."

The back-up generators finally kicked in, having taken a surprisingly long time to initiate, and Mac stood up.

"Well, guess we'd better go back downstairs and make sure everything's going relatively smoothly. I can't really see how anything stranger could happen today."

All of a sudden the large double doors leading to the ground floor room we were in blew inward with a loud bang and Raven shot in backwards, landing on the floor between Mac and myself in a bruised and bloody heap. Mac and I exchanged horrified looks and knelt beside her to assist. And as if things could get more confusing, a large group of heavily armed men in black attire followed her inside, streaming in through the door she had just knocked open.

"Oh, as usual, dear," Mac muttered.

***

I floated down to the ground to intercept the Speakers after the transformer blew, planning to stop them and warn my friends inside the building. "Do you guys just never learn?" I asked the disheveled group. "We kicked your asses earlier and you just insist on coming back for more?"

No one answered me. 

The name "Speakers" must have been a joke,' I thought to myself.

After staring blankly at me for several minutes, as if their brains had gone on standby, they finally decided to attack me. 

Guess these guys aren't exactly the brightest crayons in the box' I thought. I sent three of them flying into the telephone pole that had housed the transformer I torched earlier and threw two of them behind me where they slammed into the crumbling brick and plaster of the building. 

Five down, five...ten...fifteen to go.' 

Unfortunately for me two more of them rushed at me and started knocking me around, giving me quite a few bruises. Although weakened considerably by all the energy I had used fighting their counterparts, I fought back and was about to throw them all to Iceland when the butt of one of their rifles struck me squarely in the temple right as I was about to launch an attack. My powers rebounded on me, sending me flying instead of them, and I crashed through the double doors that led to the ground floor of the warehouse, landing between Ian and Mac, who were the last people I saw before I blacked out.

***

Gabe and I were pretty shocked when the power went out. Associates scrambled around to find candles and flashlights to provide light, scurrying about in a comical fashion. If it hadn't been so odd I would have been laughing.

"You think we should check this out?" Gabe asked, voicing a thought that had crossed my mind. "I'm pretty sure that it's not storming outside."

"I haven't heard any thunder. Maybe we should look into it," I said.

"What's going on?" Jackson asked.

"We don't know. But we're going to find out," I said, and without discussing it any further, the three of us ran upstairs to the ground floor. I stopped in my tracks and Gabe and Jackson screeched to a halt so they wouldn't knock me over. A group of about fifteen men was holding Mac, Ian, and an apparently unconscious Raven at gunpoint.

"What the hell?" I asked. They turned to me but didn't take their guns off of the three in the middle of the room. They remained silent for a moment, and that was long enough for Jackson to realize what was going on.

"What are you doing here? Did you follow me?" he asked. We all looked at him. "These are my men!"

One came forward, apparently the only one that was able to talk.

"You're not in charge anymore, Mr. Miller."

"What is the meaning of this?"

"It's not any of your concern. Now which of you is the Wielder? We have orders to take you alive and kill the rest of you."

I pulled my sleeve down over the Witchblade discreetly. They must not have been as well informed on me as Jackson had been. None of us spoke, not wanting to give anything away.

"Fine, then," the leader said, crossing the room and grabbing Mac by the arm. Ian tried to stop him but he got a rifle waved in his face by one of the other Speakers and he had no choice but to stop. "If the Wielder doesn't show herself—" he pointed his pistol at Mac's temple, "—then I'll start executing people, starting with this one."

"How do you know I'm not the Wielder?" Mac said bravely.

"You very well could be. And if you are, you won't get killed if I shoot you," he said. "I know that thing protects you from bullets. Now, any of you want to keep this girl alive a little longer by telling me who the Wielder really is?"

"If she gave herself up, would you spare the girl you're about to dispatch?" I asked.

"Possibly."

"Not good enough. Let go of her and Sara Pezzini will reveal herself."

Raven groaned and started coming to. Ian made a move toward her and the guy with the pistol shot at his foot, missing the toe of his boot by an inch. "I'd stay put if I were you, Nottingham."

"Give it up, Grant. You're not going to get anywhere if you shoot that girl. If Irons finds out that you carelessly killed the Wielder, he'll have your head on a platter."

Grant, the new Speaker head honcho, considered this and pushed Mac away from him roughly, making her land next to the semi-conscious Raven. "Now which of you is it?" he asked, eyes darting from one person to the next.

I stepped forward and they trained their guns on me. Hands in the air, I said, "I'm the one you want. Leave them out of this."

"Sara!" Gabe shouted. "Don't!"

"I don't have a choice. I don't want to lose any more people I care about. I'm the Wielder, Grant."

"Prove it," Grant said.

Slowly, showing them I wasn't going for a weapon, I rolled down my sleeve to show them the Witchblade and it activated into gauntlet form. They all jumped back a little, eyes widened at the sight of the metal glove on my arm.

"That good enough for you, buddy? Your little friends seem to recognize me. Bring it on, Grant."

Gunfire erupted in the warehouse, which was nothing new, and my friends and I all dove for cover. Ian and I landed in the same area.

"ShitI don't have my gun," I said.

"Here." Ian thrust one at me.

"What all do you have in that thing, an armory?" I said, gesturing with the muzzle of my gun to the long black coat he wore.

"Not necessarily. That's in my other trench coat," he said with a grin.

"Smart ass." I popped up over a barrier and returned fire, hitting one Speaker in the chest and one in the head, killing both. Ian pegged two, also. We had to duck, though, when their counterparts laid down a spray of bullets in our direction.

Somehow over the gunfire Ian and I were able to hear Grant's shouts. "Fan out! Special team, follow me to the basement! Make sure nothing stays unburned!"

Ian and I exchanged glances. "What the hell is he talking about?" I asked.

"Sara, you're asking me like I know the answer to that question," he said. 

"What, don't you?"

"Uh, that would be a most emphatic no," he said.

Mac came flying through the air toward us, encased in a bubble of her own energy that was making her bulletproof. "Guys, they're after our research! I heard Grant say that Irons wants it all destroyed! He doesn't want any evidence of the Associates' existence left behind! And there's a lot of important stuff down there!"

"Check it out! Most of the Speakers are bugging out!" Gabe shouted. 

And it was true. The six Speakers that hadn't gone downstairs or hadn't been killed were running out the door. It was too late to stop the team of Speakers from descending to the lower level, but we could fight it out down there. Feeling like a colonel on the beaches of Normandy, I waved my friends to follow me down. Ian was right at my side and Jackson was helping Raven walk. Mac touched down from her flight and Gabriel was right behind her. Not knowing what was ahead of us, the six of us raced down the stairs.


	32. Chapter 32

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Wow! I really was on a roll in this chapter. It's not the last, but 33 will probably be so keep your eyes peeled. I hope you enjoy this super, super long post and I'm glad you've liked Danger Zone. Thanks so much to Spin and Pixie-Dust for all your help lately. Love you all! ;)

~DM

Chapter 32

Once downstairs, we followed the trail of wreckage that the five Speakers had left in their wake. They had not wasted any time starting their process of destruction by fire and the gasoline fumes and thick smoke stifling as the flames lapped at the walls and ceiling of the room. In addition to the blazing inferno we had just walked into, a line of fire shot toward us along the floor, creating a barrier between the living and computer rooms. Two of the Speakers jumped out, blowtorches in hand, protected by the line of flames. It seemed that they had poured out a good deal of gasoline, making a thin stream lead to a large lake that was centered in the computer area. They had ignited the stream to form the barrier and at the same time destroy the computers. The two Speakers stood there just long enough to taunt us and then disappeared into the flames.

The research!" Mac shouted between coughs. She was apparently unconcerned about the other damage done by the five men, only by the potential loss of the information gathered. As we were trying to find the Speakers, the fire-consumed ceiling behind us near the stairs collapsed, making escape impossible from that location. 

I turned to Mac and asked, "Is there another way out of here?"

She nodded. Pointing to a door on the only wall that wasn't in flames, she said, "That's a staircase that leads to a storm cellar of sorts. A little flight of stairs from the cellar goes up to the ground."

"Okay, great. You five get out of here. I'll take care of this and meet you up there."

"Sara," Ian began.

"No, Ian. I'm doing this alone. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"But it's okay if you do?" Gabe asked.

"Gabe, it's my job. This thing–" I said, raising the arm with the Witchblade, "–makes me take risks like this. Now get out of here. I can take care of these creeps hopefully without much trouble and I'll meet you above ground. Where are the research notes stored, Mac?" I asked. "While I'm down here I'll see what I can salvage."

"There's a box of floppy disks and CD's with information on them on a shelf over the third computer on the back wall. They'll probably be going for the computers themselves, thinking all the info's on the hard drives. Good thing I backed it all up."

"All right. I'll try my best. You guys scram." I smiled and headed off toward the computers, leaping through the line of flames before they could stop me.

***

I attempted to follow Sara into the computer area but Gabe and Jackson grabbed me by the arms and practically dragged me out of that room into the cellar. Between the fumes and the smoke, it was almost impossible to breathe in both the living room and the tiny cellar so we were relieved when Mac found the stairs that led to the outside and we climbed out into the open air. We staggered away from the building and collapsed to the ground, coughing uncontrollably. 

After we were through we noticed night had fallen and the only light around came from the stars; apparently the flames hadn't climbed high enough to be seen from the outside yet and the blown transformer hadn't been repaired. Raven had recovered somewhat and was standing up on her own without Jackson's assistance. Mac and Gabe and I stared at the warehouse, waiting to see some sign of Sara escaping through the exit we had used. 

While our attention was riveted on the building, the small crew of cowardly Speakers that had fled from the building earlier ambushed us. Armed with rifles and strong flashlights, they opened fire on us. I returned fire but it was useless considering I had only one gun left and that none of my companions were armed at all. Jackson was wounded pushing Raven out of the way of a bullet that seemed to have her name on it. Mac slowed all the bullets down to the approximate speed of a snail and then made them fall harmlessly to the ground. She and Raven exchanged looks and then combined their energies, forming a subtly luminous bubble around all of us that protected us from the bullets. Gabe checked on Jackson's wound, which was a superficial graze to the shoulder, and I kept an eye out for Sara. 

***

I sped through the flames, hoping to find the Speakers before they found me. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and the Witchblade activated in time to deflect a few bullets. Luckily I wasn't in an area with an extremely high flame frequency.

"Are you guys crazy?!" I shouted. "Do you want to kill all of us?" I'm not sure if they heard me or not, but regardless they stopped shooting at me at least. I searched through the huge room, trying to find the box that Mac had described earlier. I reached the back wall and, avoiding the pipes in the corner of the room that extended up through the ceiling, counted over three computers. On the shelf directly over the computer a small box of floppy disks sat harmlessly. I grabbed it and slipped it into the inside pocket of my jacket. Damn, it was getting hot in that room. I turned around and was about to start running when I heard a weapon cock and saw Grant and his buddies emerge from the smoke. I froze.

"Not so fast, Ms. Pezzini," he said. "We have orders to take you in. And now that you have that information we've been looking for, you've saved us the trouble of searching through this burning building to find it. If you come quietly we won't kill you," he added, as if that was supposed to provide some comfort or something. 

"But you'll turn me over to Irons, who wants me dead?"

"I just said that we wouldn't kill you. I made no guarantees about anyone else." Grant smiled wickedly. 

"Well, you're excellent at breaking the bad news gently, Grant. Sorry to say I'm not going to play into your hands. You're not taking me alive, and I believe that that will greatly reduce the size of the chunk of change that Irons is providing you with. So I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you."

Grant's eyes narrowed. "I'm willing to take that risk, Pezzini." He raised his gun and fired at me several times. I was able to dodge but his bullets went straight into the pipes in the corner.

***

An explosion shook the ground that we stood on, and the eyes of all of us, even the Speakers, flew to the warehouse. Flames had now broken out from the lower level of the warehouse and consumed the whole buildingor what was left of it after the blast.

"The fire must have gotten to the gas pipes in the basement!" Mac exclaimed. 

And Sara had yet to come out of the building. 

"Where's Chief?" Gabe wanted to know.

"She'snot out yet," Raven said slowly. 

I rushed forward, escaping Mac and Raven's bubble, and ran to the warehouse, ignoring the shouts for me to stop. A sense of dread came over me and I knew that I had to find Sara. No doubt the Speakers had trapped her or something else had gotten in her way. Trying to ignore the smoke, I plunged down the stairs into the cellar and then into the main downstairs room.

"Sara!" I screamed, praying for a response. I ran through the fire and ended up in the computer room, which had been badly scorched by the blast. I passed several bodies as I went, obviously those of the Speakers. I counted four, noting that Parker Grant wasn't one of them. I ran farther into the room and finally spotted the activated Witchblade emerging from a pile of debris. I dug Sara out of the pile and checked her vitals quickly. She was breathing and had a pulse but was of course unconscious and had a small but deep cut on her forehead. I very carefully lifted Sara off the ground and sprinted for the exit, since I was unsure how much time we had to get out of the building. Climbing the stairs to the cellar and then those to the open air was a very difficult task, but I managed and no sooner had my feet touched the grass when the building was rocked by a second explosion and the rest of the warehouse collapsed to the ground. I didn't stop running until I reached the others, who were still far enough away from the blaze to remain safe. They huddled around us as I fell to my knees in exhaustion.

"Is she okay?" Mac asked worriedly.

"She's alive," I said between deep breaths. 

Suddenly something fell away from Sara's unconscious form and landed in the grass with a rattle. Gabe picked it up and held it in the light from the blaze. 

"Floppy disks?" he asked.

Mac snatched them from his hands. "She did it. She saved the data!"

"What about the other Speakers, Ian?" Raven asked. 

"Dead. All except Parker Grant. He must have escaped somehow. I only passed four bodies on my way in. Slippery bastardI shouldn't be surprised."

"Slippery is definitely a good word to use, but he's going to get worse. He's a ruthless, ambitious manhe'll probably take over the Speakers now that I'm gone."

"Are you sure you have decided whose side you're on?" I asked him. He nodded and sneaked a look at Raven. "This is where I belong." 

"Good to hear it, Jackson," I said.

"Ian, can I use your phone? We need to call the fire department," Mac said. I reached into my pocket with some difficulty because of Sara's position and Mac took it.

"I wonder how they found us. I mean, nobody that wasn't directly involved with the operation knew where we were headquartered," Mac said as she was dialing.

"Will?" Raven suggested.

"Maybe. But that would have basically tipped off the White Bulls. The Speakers weren't as involved in that part of all this mess." Mac sighed.

"They could have tracked someone here. Meor Jackson," I said, the idea suddenly hitting me. "Jackson, what happened before you came here?"

"Well, my secretary gave me this jacket before I left because she said it was cold outside. I found that odd because she never seemed to be that concerned with me before. I mean, the occasional cup of coffee out of the blue, but" he reached into the jacket's pocket and frowned. He withdrew a small capsule with a tiny blinking red light. "Damn!" he exclaimed, crushing the tracer between two fingers. "I'm sorry–"

"Save it," Raven said. "You didn't know it was there."

Sirens and headlights came closer and converged on the remnants of the warehouse and firemen rushed out to put out the still raging fires. We went up to the front where an ambulance was parked and the paramedics helped Jackson inside so they could treat his wound. I laid Sara on a gurney and the paramedics checked her vitals. 

"Can we accompany you to the hospital?" I asked.

"Sorry, sir. You can follow behind but only family's allowed in the ambulance, and even if you were family, we've got this gentleman to take care of," one of the medics said, gesturing to Jackson at that last part. 

"Don't worry, Ian, I'll keep an eye on her." Jackson gave me a reassuring smile as the medic closed the doors and the ambulance drove off.

We went over to the small area where we normally parked cars and piled into mine. "Mac, where are the rest of the Associates?"

"Oh, they don't stay as late as I do. They left a few hours ago. I practically lived in that warehouse, and you guys were just visiting. Don't worry, they're safe," she replied. She, Raven, and Gabriel had all piled into the backseat of the car, making the emptiness of the passenger seat painfully obvious. That was Sara's seat, and always would be in their minds.

Raven boarded my train of thought when she saw me glancing at the empty seat. "She'll be okay, Ian." The others agreed. 

"It's my fault. I never should have let her go in there alone," I said, hitting the side of the steering wheel with my fist for emphasis.

"Ian, you know how stubborn Chief is. I mean, come on. Do you really think that any of us could have stopped her once she made up her mind like that? Not even a possibility. And she doesn't seem to be hurt that badly," Gabe pointed out.

"True," I conceded.

We followed the ambulance to the hospital and I parked as close to the door as I could. We dashed through the double doors and entered just in time to see Sara being wheeled into the emergency room.

"What's going on?" Gabe asked.

"What do you mean, sir?" the receptionist asked. 

"We're here for Sara Pezzini, and we just saw her streak through those doors over there into the ER!" Gabe said. 

"Oh, you mean the young lady that was in that warehouse fire?" the receptionist, whose name apparently was Amelia from a quick glance at her nametag, asked. The three of us nodded. "Oh, she has to have some emergency surgery."

"What? Why?" I exclaimed.

"I believe that while in the ambulance the severity of her injuries increased. They're taking her in to correct them. That's all I know, sir. I have no doubt that the doctors will let you know when she comes out of surgery." Raven and I left the desk and Gabe went off somewhere else. 

I felt shaken. Sara was seriously hurt, much more so than I had thought. I sat in a chair in the waiting area, my face in my hands. My feelings obviously showed because Raven came over and sat beside me, putting a hand on my arm.

"Everything will be fine, Dragon. You'll see. Sara's tough. She's been through worse. You saved her life whether you believe it or not. She'd be dead for sure if you hadn't run in there after her. That's why you're her protector. That's why we rely on you."

"I thought you said it was a bad thing to rely on me," I muttered.

"I was wrong, okay? We all make our mistakes. I was angry and I said a lot of stuff I didn't mean. But there were a few things that I did mean. You do need to lighten up, and you need to come clean with Sara. You both deserve to finally have some semblance of a life, and I know you want to spend it together."

I nodded. "I just hope everything goes all right."

"It will. And you also need to work on having faith and not being so skeptical. I know the universe seems like it's out to get you–" 

"–It is out to get me," I interrupted with a grin.

"Yes, well, anyway, you still need to have a more positive outlook on things. Learn to trust people."

"I'm sorry if I seemed like I didn't trust you, Birdie."

"It's okay. I'm over it now." She smiled.

Gabe came back over to us with a can of Sprite in his hand. "Heard anything about Chief yet?"

"Nothing yet."

All of a sudden Jackson emerged from the wings and ran over to us. 

"Jackson! How's Sara? What happened on the way here? The receptionist made it sound pretty bad," Gabe stated.

"Thanks for asking about me," he joked.

"Sorry."

"No problem. I'm fine. They patched me up quick, but SaraI'm kind of worried, you guys. Her heart stopped on the way over here and they had to resuscitate her. She had some internal bleeding from traumaI guess from in the warehouse."

"She was buried in a pile of rubble. I had to dig her out," I said quietly.

"Andthe Witchblade apparently wasn't in the right place to really protect her. She had some pretty severe head trauma as well."

"Is sheis she going to be okay?" Gabe wanted to know, trying not to show that he was close to tears.

"Don't know. Nobody's let much slip."

"Guess we'll just have to wait it out," Raven said.

And that was exactly what we did. We were the only people in the waiting room except for an elderly couple sitting in the corner. We sat in silence for several hours, only breaking it a handful of times.

Gabriel had fallen asleep and Mac was nodding off when a man holding a clipboard dressed in scrubs and a surgical mask came out into the waiting room. He approached us.

"Are you friends of–" he glanced at the paper in front of him, "–Sara Pezzini?"

"Yes, we are," I said, and Raven nudged Mac awake, who in turn stabbed Gabe in the side with her elbow, waking him up instantly.

"I'm Dr. Harmon and I treated Ms. Pezzini for her injuries. She had some somewhat serious internal bleeding but that's been taken care of. We've been monitoring her vitals since she went into a temporary cardiac arrest in the ambulance but we haven't had any more problems in that respect. The only thing concerning us now is the head trauma. She became conscious for a moment right before we took her into the ER but she passed out again and that was the only time she's been awake, even after the surgery and the effects of the anesthetic wore offI'm afraid that she's slipped into a coma."

We were all shocked by this information.

"Can we see her?"

"She's stable now, so I suppose you can for a little while. I'll have someone show you to her room." Dr. Harmon signaled to a blonde-haired nurse who came over quickly. "Miranda, please take these people to room 65."

"Sure. Follow me," Miranda said, and we all got up from our seats and followed. It only took a minute for her to find it and we stopped in a miniature waiting room across the hall.

"We can only allow one person in at a time. Who wants to go first?"


	33. Chapter 33

Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Well, it's finally here: the final chapter of Danger Zone! I appreciate everyone's wonderful reviews and support, especially from Spin and Pixie-Dust for all your help in rescuing me from potential writers' block. There will be a sequel to this, and probably a sequel to thatthis is going to be a long series. So thanks so much for everything and I hope you enjoy Chapter 33! Please reviewyou know how addicted I am to reviews!!

Love you all!

~DM

Chapter 33

Mac, Raven, Jackson, and Gabe looked at each other and then looked at me. "You should," Gabe said. I nodded and went into the room. Miranda, obviously busy with other things, closed the door behind me as I entered. 

I scanned the hospital room, which fit perfectly in with the stereotype of bare furnishings and pale, white walls. In fact my black ensemble and the red stone of the Witchblade provided the only color in the room other than white. It wasn't the first time I had seen Sara in a room like this. I pulled up a chair and sat by Sara's bedside, watching for any sign of regained consciousness. She had an IV in her left arm and I was happy to see that the Witchblade was still in place on her right. Her skin was so pale it was hardly distinguishable from the white sheets she laid on. I removed my gloves and touched her hand, surprised at how cold it was. Sandwiching it between both of mine, I watched the Witchblade for any sign of acknowledgement but the stone remained quiescent. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, silently praying for everything to rectify itself, still clutching to my lady's hand.

***

Sara had been in her coma for ten days and the doctors were getting slightly worried. Dr. Harmon has said that the sooner she came out of it the likelier that she would recover fully. Now that more than a week had passed, he was afraid that her chances were getting steadily slimmer. We had all been in to see her, especially since they started letting more than one person in at once, but Ian hadn't left her side for more than fifteen minutes at a time. I arrived a little later than the rest of my friends did one morning and on the way in ran into Dr. Harmon.

"Dr. Harmon?" I asked. 

"Yes, Ms. McPherson?"

"Tell me honestly. How good are the chances of Sara coming out of this?"

"Honestlyevery day she goes without waking up, her chances get smaller. I won't say that it's impossible that she will come out of it, but it becomes increasingly unlikely as time goes by."

"Well, thank you for being honest with me, Doctor." 

We parted ways and I went to the small waiting room across the hall from Sara's room. As I entered I peeked through the window of room 65 and saw Ian sitting by Sara, watchful as ever.

This is really eating him up,' I thought. 

I walked into the waiting room and sat down by Gabe, who was watching Jackson and Raven play chess on a miniature magnetic board. 

"Any change?" I asked Gabe. 

He shook his head. "Nope. Nothing."

"Wonderful."

Raven made a move and laughed. "Ha! Checkmate! Beat that, Jack!"

"It's Jackson, and I think I can because it's not checkmate, after all," he said, moving his king one square to the left.

"Damn!" Raven said. "I didn't see that move. Mac, you broke my concentration!" she teased as she captured a pawn with one of her knights.

"Oh, I am so sorry for interrupting your potential conquest. Take that however you want."

Gabe snickered.

I watched their game for a few minutes longer when suddenly an idea struck me. "Hey, you guys?" I asked.

Jackson, Raven, and Gabe all looked at me.

"Has anyone besides me been wondering why the Witchblade hasn't kicked in yet? I mean, shouldn't it have taken the bull by the horns by now?"

Jackson nudged a pawn forward to threaten Raven's knight. "Maybe there's more damage than it's used to handling and it's taken longer to heal her than it usually does. From what Raven's told me, all it's had to handle was a few cuts, a gunshot wound, and a nasty engineered virus. This is major stuff, head trauma and internal bleeding."

Raven made her knight retreat. "Of course, there is another scenario."

"Pray tell," Gabe said.

"Sara's blood has a peculiar anomaly because of the Blade, as we all know. She lost a lot of blood due to her injuries and was transfused with blood lacking that anomaly. What if the transfused blood hasn't yet assimilated with Sara's natural supply?"

"In English, please?" Gabe asked.

"That was English, but I'll break it down into smaller words so you understand, Gabriel. The blood that Sara has had introduced into her system is different slightly because of the changes the Blade made to her blood during the Periculum. The Witchblade might be confused by this, and there's not enough of the blood with the anomaly to clue it in."

"I get it. So the Blade doesn't recognize Sara?" I inquired.

"Maybe. Maybe not. It might know her, but it doesn't know what to do. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess. It must not realize there's a big problem."

"Well, it is broke, so how do we fix it?" I asked.

"Who among us have the same anomaly? Have encountered the Blade, experienced it, worn it?"

"You! And Ian!" Gabe exclaimed.

"So basically what we're saying is if we transfuse some of Raven's or Ian's blood to Sara, the Witchblade might get a clue and snap her out of this?" Jackson asked.

"If my theory is correct." Raven took Jackson's rook with her queen. "Now that, I believe, is checkmate." She stood up. "I'm going to go talk to Ian. Chances are he hasn't thought of this solution." She walked across the hall, leaving Jackson spluttering in disbelief. 

"I had her right where I wanted her!" he insisted.

"Not quite," Gabe said.

"Apparently not, buddy. I'll play you. See if my skills are still up to snuff. Gabe? Wanna watch?"

"Not like there's anything else to do around here. We'll flip for white and black. Jackson, heads or tails?"

***

I knocked quietly on the door to room 65. Ian looked up and nodded at me. I entered the sparsely furnished room.

"How is she?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"No change. Nothing!" he said, slamming his fist on the table beside him, hanging his head.

"Calm down, brother. I think we may have thought of a solution."

That caught his attention. "How?"

"You and I might be the key. The Blade has altered our blood, like it did Sara's in the Periculum. I think the transfusions of normal blood may have confused the Blade and that's why it hasn't taken over in healing her."

Ian's eyes widened. "I hadn't thought of that. So, the question is, how do we get Sara a proper transfusion?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet. Give me a little more time."

"We may not have much more time."

"I know."

***

"Well, hello, Parker," I said. "Fine work you've done tonight." It was apparent that Parker was incredibly ashamed of himself. Guess that meant that I was the new head honcho now, because if the leader of the Speakers wasn't proud, he was nothing.

"I can explain, Yvette–"

"Save it. You have failed miserably. Seven men out of twenty survived that last encounter. At this rate we will be out of agents in no time at all. And you didn't even capture the Wielder!"

"I've heard that she's in pretty bad shape, however. She's in a coma in the hospital. I could send someone over–"

"NO! You've done quite enough today, Parker. Besides, do you really think that the Guardian and Raven Cole will have left her side? You are a fool! No, we will do nothing. We will have to wait for some time to find an opportunity in which we will be able to isolate her. Irons will not be happy."

"Do we have to tell him yet?"

"No, we don't have to tell him," I said, and I saw Parker relax. "He already knows. He wants to speak to you." I picked up the phone and took Mr. Irons off of hold. "Good luck."

Parker gulped and took the receiver.

***

The doctor came in to check on Sara.

"How is our patient?" Dr. Harmon inquired.

"No change," Ian deadpanned. 

"Well, that's not good news." He checked Sara's vitals. "She's still hanging in there, but her color is bad."

"Indeed," I remarked. "What can we do about that?"

"I suppose a transfusion might help someat this point anything could help."

"Do you need a volunteer?" I asked. "Sara and I are the same type." I think.'

"Are you offering, Ms. Cole?"

"Raven, I could–"

"Excuse us, Doctor," I said, pulling Ian aside. "Listen," I whispered, "we shouldn't advertise this sudden outbreak of people with this anomaly, although I'm not certain that they did extensive blood tests and found the Witchblade's changes. But, anyway, I might get weakened by the blood loss and that's okay, but we need you to be in top form, just in case the Speakers decide not to let sleeping dogs lie. Please, Ian. Let me do this."

He nodded reluctantly and I turned back to Dr. Harmon. "Yes, I'm volunteering."

"Let me get a technician up here and we'll do this procedure now," Dr. Harmon said. He went to the telephone and spouted some medical mumbo-jumbo into the receiver. I sat down on Sara's left and waited for him to tell me what to do, and Ian resumed his original watchman position.

The technician arrived with the cart a few minutes later and prepared us for the procedure. A nurse brought in a cot and wheeled it in beside Sara's for me to lay back on. I climbed on top and because of Immo's many injections in my childhood, I barely flinched when the young man inserted the needle into my vein. 

"This should take some time. Just stay still and relax; I'll be back in a while."

"Thank you," I said, laying back on the cot and trying to relax. Dr. Harmon promised to check in later and the technician was making the rounds but would be back. I glanced over at Sara and was amazed that she could look so fragile after all I had seen her do. 

Ian moved his chair to sit between Sara and myself. 

"What happens now?" he queried.

"We wait. And then we go from there. I don't know what else I can say."

***

I hung up from my call with Parker Grant in disgust. He was nowhere near the leader I had thought him to be. The entire conversation was riddled with multiple repetitions of "um," "uh," and other nervous sounds. Not leadership material. Yvette apparently had taken control in something of a hostile takeover and now Parker would be lucky if he could retain a job as a janitor in the Speaker's organization. 

But there was a plus side to this, if that was possible. Sara Pezzini, while not dead, was close to death, and there was plenty of time for me to confront and eliminate her at a more favorable time. Dante and his team of incompetents were out of the picture now, making room for another team of people more capable and loyal. 

I sat back in my chair, pondering the future. I would have time to get (rid of) what I wanted. I was surprised at myself for being so patient, since that virtue was not my strong suit, but I knew there was no point in trying again now, even though Sara was extremely vulnerable at this point. Ian, Raven, and all her little friends would be surrounding her, all with his or her own power that could destroy anyone opposing them, and expedition after expedition would be eliminated. I would have to wait until they weren't expecting an attack from my direction and then rid myself of the Wielderafter I got some of her blood. I smiled to myself. Everything would work out fine, and I would get exactly what I wanted. It just would take a little timebut I had all of that that I needed.

***

Over the span of a week, Sara seemed to be getting a lot better after the transfusion. Her color was much better and her vitals were stronger, but she was still unconscious. The Witchblade was glowing nonstop now, signaling that it had gotten a clue, and was so obvious that we had to cover it with the sheet before people came in to check on her periodically. 

"How much longer do you think this is going to take?" Raven asked.

"I have no idea. I would have thought that the situation would have rectified itself by now. Your idea was clearly right on the mark, Birdie. She is improving."

"True. And the Speakers don't seem to want to try anything cute. They probably have heard about Sara's condition and are itching to knock her off but have probably realized that we're staying close to her around the clock."

"Irons might very well have called them off for the same reason, and you know them. They won't do a thing unless they're being paid," I remarked.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I actually began to doze off. I hadn't been sleeping much lately because of the possibility of an attack on Sara in her helpless state and I was surprised when Raven gave a loud, joyful exclamation. Apparently Sara had all of a sudden begun to stir.

***

It was almost like I was lost in a fog–and had been for some time. I couldn't really see anything because of it but I could hear someone's voice.

"Come on, Sara. Everything's been straightened out nowit's time for you to rejoin the world of the living," the voice, a woman's, whispered. In fact, it sounded a lot like my own.

"Who is that? Who are you? What are you talking about?"

"It's me, Sara. The Witchblade. You'll be in danger if you stay like this any longer. You have to wake up. Wake upwake upwake up" the voice's last words echoed in my head as I inched closer to consciousness. 

Ian,' I thought. I could sense him nearby.

My eyelids felt extremely heavy, as if they were lined with lead. A potent lethargy had overtaken me and it was all I could do to move a few of the fingers on my left hand. I felt someone's hand in my right and I squeezed. My vision finally began to focus and I noticed that I was in a hospital room.

"Ian! Ian! She's coming out of it. Wake up!"

"I wasn't sleeping!" 

"Looked like it to me!"

"What are you two arguing about?" I asked, my voice raspy.

"Sara!" Ian and Raven exclaimed.

"What the hell is going on here? Where am I?"

"Sara, you're in the hospital. You've been in a coma for three weeks," Raven stated. 

"Three weeks! Oh, my God."

"How are you feeling?" Ian asked me.

"Tired. What happened to me?"

"What do you remember?"

"Well, I was in the warehouse looking for the disks for Macand then Grant and four Speakers cornered me and they were stupid enough to start shooting. I think Grant hit the pipes in the corner of the room. Gas pipes?" 

They nodded.

"I seem to attract gas pipe explosions," I said, thinking back to how I got the Witchblade in the Midtown Museum. "After that I can't remember anything."

"You should get some sleep, Sara," Raven said. 

"Raven, I've been asleep for three weeks. Sleeping is the last thing I want to do right now. Why don't you drag Mac, Gabe, and Jackson in here? This room is big enough for all of them." Raven left to get them and Ian and I were alone.

"If there isn't enough room for everyone, I'll leave," Ian said. "If there's anything you want"

"Well, there is something," I said.

"Anything."

"I want you to stay right here and not go anywhere," I said. I struggled to sit up, hoping my muscles hadn't atrophied. Apparently they were in pretty good shape, because I pushed myself up to a sitting position. I would definitely have to spend some major time in the gym, though. I looked Ian straight in the eye. 

"And why is that?" he asked.

"BecauseI–" I stopped. "Because I don't want you to think you're not supposed to be here. I mean, come on, you're my Guardian." I turned to face him better. "That entitles you to stick around. And–" I realized I was babbling and had every intention of stopping when Ian took my face in his–bare–hands and kissed me full on the lips. 

***

I had beaten Jackson two out of three games and was preparing for the third when Raven came out of the room with a huge smile on her face. 

"What's going on?" Gabe asked. "I've never seen anyone look that happy before."

"Sara's awake!" she exclaimed.

Jackson and I instantly forgot about our impending game and the three of us followed Raven across the hall. We were about to open the door when we passed the window and spotted Ian and Sara in serious lip-lock.

"Well, it's about time," Gabe said. We all turned to him. "I've been waiting for them to get together forever!! Ever since I first saw the way Ian's eyes followed Sara if she was in the room no matter what. At least they finally decided to get on with it already."

The four of us grinned and waited until they were finished. Gabe knocked on the door and the pair snapped their attention to the door like two kids caught by their parents for raiding the cookie jar.

"Come in," Ian called, and Gabe opened the door.

"Hey Chief. You've looked better," he joked.

"Shut up, Bowman. But thanks for noticing," Sara retorted.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, sitting in Raven's chair. Gabe, Raven, and Jackson took positions elsewhere around the room, Jackson and Gabe sitting on the spare cot.

"I've felt better. Tired."

"Do you need to rest? I mean, we can leave."

"No, I'm fine. I've been sleeping for three weeks, as I already explained to Raven. All I want is to get out of here."

***

I was out of the hospital in practically no time, to my pleasure, and was able to pick up my life again, although it was very different from how it had been lately. Jake and his FBI comrades, who assured me that I had nothing to worry about on the subject of charges stemming from the warehouse massacre because of self-defense, had cleaned out the White Bulls. Therefore it was good that Jake hadn't seen everything that had gone on in the warehouse

Thankfully all remained quiet when it came to the Speakers. I hadn't had any harassment from Irons or from them, but that didn't mean that everything was safe or that the threat from Irons was over. I had no doubt that something was going to happen eventually concerning the two. 

Ian picked me up from the hospital when I was released several days after my awakening and he took me back to my apartment. We entered through the front door, wonder of wonders. Before we went inside I asked him, "Are you sure that you don't want to go back downstairs and come back up the fire escape? This is your last chance."

He laughed. I was proud of myself. Not many people could claim to have done that.

The super must have fixed my lock because of the Speaker invasion, which seemed to have happened so long ago. I was glad I didn't have a crook for a landlord. I opened the door and we went in. There was a little bit of a mess–a few things they knocked over in their search for me–but otherwise not too much damage.

"Guess they gave up when they couldn't find me," I said.

"Evidently," Ian said. He helped me clean up, involving sweeping up some broken glass and picking up the lamps and other objects that had been knocked over. When we had finished, Ian turned to leave. 

"Ian, wait!"

He whirled around.

"What happens now? Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps to my refuge, although the thought of staying in that enormous place doesn't seem too favorable to me. I'll figure something out." He started to leave again.

"Hang on a second. If you don't want to end up in that huge place, II wouldn't mind if you decided you want to stay here."

"Are you serious, Sara?"

"Dead serious. I mean, come on, it would let you keep a closer eye on me, and I know that's all you're interested in," I said.

Ian came closer to me and said, "Well, actually, there's something else that interests me."

"Oh, really? And what might that be?"

By this time Ian and I were face to face. "Fulfilling our destiny, Sara." He leaned over and kissed me. My hands tangled themselves in Ian's long curls as his arms tightened around my waist. 

When we broke apart, I asked, "So is that a yes?"

Ian laughed again and said, "That is definitely a yes. If you want me to stay here, I will."

"Not that it would bother you any," I teased.

It took very little time to move Ian into my apartment. He went to his refuge to get some things, although there wasn't a lot he needed to get, and he definitely wasn't going back to Irons's place to get anything. He brought some of his clothes and some weapons, as well as the bags of my clothes and guns we'd taken with us in our escape. 

"Do you think our security can be guaranteed?" Ian asked me as we put our guns back in my armoire.

"Ian, we have enough guns to invade Cuba. I think we're fine."

When we finished putting our stuff away, we sat down on the couch and looked at each other. "So, what now?" he inquired. 

"Oh, I have an idea," I said. I stood up and sat on Ian's lap, straddling him, and kissed him deeply. He broke it off and looked at me pleadingly.

"Please, Sara," he said. "Don't give me false hope. This can't be what you're really feeling."

"What about this–" I kissed him again, "–isn't real?"

"Sara" he trailed off. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"I know what I'm doing, Ian. I'm not drunk or anything. I know that I want thisI want you. Please, Ian."

Apparently that was all it took to convince him. He kissed me deeply and we got up, stumbling toward the bed. As we prepared to take our relationship to the next level, it was clear to us that for now, and hopefully for some time in the future, we were finally out of the danger zone.

The Endfor now


End file.
